These Are the Most Popular Baby Names of 2015

Pop culture and television have long been a source of inspiration for baby names (it's no coincidence that Olivia has been a top name ever since Scandal — and Olivia Pope — hit the small screen. This year, it appears that the hit drama Empire is causing names like Lyon, Hakeem, and Dre — up 77 percent — to rise in popularity. Although Cookie hasn't broken through, Lucious entered BabyCenter's database for the first time in years.

According to BabyCenter, gender-neutral names — those that work well for both boys and girls — are one of the biggest trends of 2015. The name Wyatt is up 84 percent for girls, Piper is up 61 percent for boys, and Lincoln and Carson are rising steadily for both boys and girls.

It shouldn't come as a shock that social media has an influence on today's young parents, but who knew the popular photo-sharing app would be such a direct source of potential baby names? Instagram's filters are now doubling as proper nouns, with Lux up 75 percent, Ludwig up 42 percent, Valencia up 26 percent, Juno up 30 percent, and Amaro up 26 percent. Even Willow, Reyes, Hudson, and Kelvin are turning out to be more than just attractive photo filters this year.

It's one thing to name your newborn George or Charlotte, but today's parents are taking their obsession with royals one step further with a more literal take. Names like Princess, Tiara, Duchess, and King are on the rise, and even the name Royalty is up nearly 90 percent. Reign, up 54 percent, might continue to rise now that Kourtney Kardashian has given the moniker to her third child.

When looking for baby names this past year, parents looked up to the sky for answers. There's a clear celestial trend happening, with planets like Venus and Jupiter seeing major spikes. Other takes, like Sunny – which is up 43 percent for boys and 18 percent for girls – and Stella, meaning star, are on the rise.