Professional Baby Namer Predicts 2026 Trends, Including Y2K Influences and Names Straight Out of Dictionaries (Exclusive)

Colleen Slagen has been a professional baby name consultant since 2022, when she left her full-time job as a nurse practitioner to pursue her lifelong passion for names.

Since shifting careers, she’s built a brand, gained thousands of social media followers and written down some of her greatest tips and tricks in her book, Naming Bebe: An Interactive Guide to Choosing the Baby Name You Love.

Slagen’s future is sure to be filled with even more meaningful meetings with expecting parents searching for the right baby name. She personalizes each consultation to fit the clients’ needs, taking into consideration any family histories, sibling monikers and other relevant information.

The expert also considers the ebbs and flows of naming trends as she conducts her work. She’s tapped in enough to recognize the longterm staples — will Olivia ever be dethroned as the No. 1 name for girls? — and the more fleeting styles some parents adopt.

Looking toward the new year, Slagen speaks to PEOPLE exclusively to map out what she predicts will be some of the biggest baby names and naming trends of 2026.

She first points out how many people are gravitating toward “short, four-letter names” right now, citing the way “they feel effortlessly cool and nickname-proof.” She lists girls’ names like Indi, Gwen, Lana and Alba as examples; for boys’ names, this is evidenced by the likes of Luca (or Luka), Rome, Elio, Dean and Bode.

“I have worked with so many families who have accidentally started this trend with their children and then continued it for the whole set!” says Slagen.

As fans of the social media star know, she’s also quite skilled at coming up with titles for the name trends. In the past, Slagen has told PEOPLE about “cool cowboy names” — think: Rhett, Wyatt, Dutton, Colter, Ace and Briggs — and even the more controversial concept of “sexy CEO names.” (Slagen nodded to Sloane as a “really edgy, but kind of a boss name.”)

In 2026, she believes we’ll be seeing more “Andi Anderson names” in a widespread homage to early 2000s entertainment.

“Us millennials have never forgotten Kate Hudson’s iconic role as Andi Anderson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” Slagen clarifies. “So much so that it’s influencing our baby naming. Parents are using names for their daughters that are traditionally used for boys.”

While she notes that “boy moms are not loving the encroachment” on their naming space, Slagen maintains that the world should ready itself for more girls called Andie, Drew, Bennie, Dylan, Logan and Stevie.

Then there are what she fondly refers to as the “Goldilocks names” — names that straddle the line of being “classic, but not too popular,” as Slagen’s clients so often request.

“When everyone is looking the other way at the same time, a trend is born along with the baby. French names have a classic elegance that people are really drawn to,” she shares. For that reason, she also dubs those on this list “Pardon My French names,” so prepare for more girls named Eloise, Celine, Juliette, Vivienne, Collette, Elodie and Margot. Boys may be Remy, Julien, Sebastian, Hugo or Louie.

For parents who aren’t into classics, Slagen refers to “Merriam-Webster names,” meaning that they could be found on a birth certificate or in a dictionary.

“This is a trend that gained traction from celebrities — everybody remembers where they were when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple — and has trickled down to us normal folks,” Slagen explains, though she admits it’s maybe more commonly tapped by influencers than the more general population.

“It’s a way for people to pick something that is very unique as a baby name, but a word that is familiar/easy to say and spell,” she clarifies to PEOPLE. Meet girls called Winter, Ever, Cherry, Story and Haven and boys named Rowdy, Halo, Ranger, Coast and Arch, for example.

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Last but not least, Slagen introduces “sustainably sourced names.” In some ways, this trend is an amalgamation of others: “Nature meets Old Hollywood,” says Slagen. “These names evoke a sense of nature while not feeling quite as hippie as names like Clover.”

Boys’ names may have a preppier vibe, she notes, listing Oak (or Oakes), Woods, Rocky, Wells, Fields and Stone as possibilities.

“On the girls’ side, a lot of ‘nicknames’ being used as given names,” Slagen continues, specifying the likes of Kit, Scout, Birdie, Goldie and Dove. “Fewer people are worried about that resume headliner!”