The Anzac Centenary and the birth of a royal baby will be among the events that are likely to inspire parents facing the job of naming their baby this year. Here are eight top naming trends for 2015.
1. Military names
April 25 will mark the Anzac Centenary, which will see our screens and newspapers filled with everything military - a fact which Mark McCrindle, from trend forecasting company McCrindle Research, believes could have an influence on the year's most popular baby names.
"There will be a lot of references to famous Australian diggers, so I think the military theme will make its way into baby names in 2015. Expect names such as Lance, Marshall and Reginald to appear," he says.
"Possibly the most famous Australian soldier we'll hear about is Simpson and his donkey, so I think Simpson will get a bit of a run because it ties into the other trend of surnames as first names. We could also see Winston emerge, after Winston Churchill, and Scout for the girls."
2. Royal names
A royal baby will be born this year - an event which will without doubt result in a rush of parents choosing a royal moniker for their own new prince or princess.
"April will bring us the next royal baby and that will drive a lot of trends," McCrindle says. "Even other royal names see a resurgence when a royal baby is born - since the birth of Prince George in 2013, William has maintained its dominance, George has shot up, Harry has been rising and even Charles has gained ground.
"This time around, maybe we'll even see Albert and Edward emerge for the boys.
"For girls, Katherine will continue to rise and I'm predicting Diana will come up, particularly if the royal baby is a girl, as there will be a lot of reflection on her grandmother. Elizabeth and Margaret are also possibilities."
3. Short, simple names
The coolest baby names in Europe right now are short and simple, according to popular baby name website Nameberry.com.
If the trend spreads here we can expect to see Isa, Eva, Ida, Lou, Lia, and Tess for girls, while Ben, Finn, Jack, Leon, and Max will be popular for boys.
4. The 100 year return
Names that were popular a century ago have been back in vogue recently, and McCrindle predicts this trend will continue.
"If a name is just 20 or 30 years old, like Kylie or Nicole, it's too soon for it to make a comeback because it just sounds out of fashion," McCrindle says. "But when you look at the top of the baby names lists today, there are a lot of century-old names.
"In recent years, there's been William, Jack, Ethan, Thomas and James for the boys, and Charlotte, Ruby, Amelia and Ava for the girls. I'm predicting that even more names that were big a century ago will make a comeback.
"For boys, there could be Beau, Walter, Archie, Frank, Joseph, Henry and Edwin. For girls, possibilities include Clara, Gloria, Estelle, Eva and Evelyn."
5. Names ending in 'O'
While boy names ending in O (Milo, Leo, Theo) have been popular for a while, Nameberry predicts this year will see the rise in names ending in an O sound for girls.
Juno, Marlow, Harlow, Monroe, Willow, Indigo and Shiloh are all possible choices.
6. Pop culture names
According to Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of babynames.com, parents with a love of pop culture are now more likely to name their children after favourite characters in books and films rather than real life celebrities.
This trend has seen names like Piper (Orange is the New Black), Arya (Game of Thrones) and Lincoln (from the Steven Spielberg film of the same name) increase in popularity in recent years.
"Disney heroine names are (also) hot!" Moss told todaysparent.com. "Aurora, Elsa, Anastasia and Alice are all in the top 100. I predict Tiana, Giselle and Ariel will become popular, too."
7. Decline in unisex names
Moss believes the trend of babies being given names that work for either gender is coming to an end, particularly for girls
Even though Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher recently named their baby girl Wyatt, 2015 parents are more likely to lean towards feminine and princess inspired names - in line wih the Disney trend above.
8. Natural naming
Mark McCrindle says luxury brand names like Bentley and Mercedes are making way for monikers with a more natural inspiration.
"While brands were a source of inspiration for a while, names with a more organic theme are drawing the trends currently," he says.
He believes names like Lily, Skye, Amber, Jade, Poppy, Holly, Willow, Summer,Rain and Jasmine could be popular for girls.
River, Sage and Ash are possible choices for nature-inspired parents of baby boys.
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