When it comes to the name game, there’s always a pressure for parents to find the perfect fit for their child and make it original and creative, and choose something that will last the test of time.

Nameberry presents its list of 12 popular name trends for 2012, which includes everything from heroes to uniquely-spelled traditionals, to vintage standbys.

Of course we all can’t wait to see what Beyonce and Jay-Z go with (perhaps Bey-Z? Or Jayonce?), but here’s some of the hot categories they may be inspired by.

Modern heroes
Mariah Carey did it perfectly when she named her daughter Monroe, a name that honored her heroine Marilyn Monroe in a distinctly modern, non-Blonde Bombshell way.  Such surname names may honor heroes real or fictional, contemporary or historic, from the arts, sports, or the world stage, and work for girls as well as boys.  Other choices we’ve been hearing: Landry (as in football coach Tom), Gatsby (as in fictional hero The Great), and Palin (yes, as in her).

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Mariah Carey was ahead of the curve with her twins, with the heroes trend (for daughter Monroe) and the "M" trend for son Moroccan.

Same but different
Popular names get popular for a reason: They capture the style of the times and they’re well-liked by a wide range of parents.  Yet as the horror of choosing a too-popular name grows, parents search for ways to create names that are similar to the top choices yet different, a trend we see expanding in several directions.  So Number 1 girls’ name Isabella gives rise to stylistically-related choices Arabella and Annabelle; Olivia, the top name in Britain, spawns spelling variation Alivia; Emma and Emily promote brother name Emmett.

Keep it fierce
Our frightening times seem to have inspired many parents to give their sons names that make them seem equally fearsome.  There are fierce animal names such as Bear, Fox, Wolf, Lynx and a range of names from Leo to Lionel that mean lion, and then there are the perhaps-even-fiercer names like Breaker, Ranger, and Wilder.

Go West, young man
It’s the hottest direction, with names such as West and Weston and Wesley, along withWestern-sounding names fit for a new generation of ‘lil cowboys: Boone and Bo, Wyatt and Wylie, Cole and Colt, Zane and Shane, and even Maverick. East works too; try Easton.

Straight As
A names have been trending upward for several years now, withmore babies receiving A names than those of any other letter.  What makes A names new are the adventurous choices parents are making these days in order to use a name with this primary letter:  Fresh A names attracting attention on Nameberry include for girls, Acacia, Ada, Anais, Annelise, Anouk, Aria, Athena, Aurelia, and Azalea, and for boys, Alistair, Ambrose, Aragon, Archer, Arthur, Augustus, and Axel.

M has its moment
Over the past few decades, we’ve had J, K, and L names in the forefront, and with Baby Names 2012 it’s M’s moment.  M names making their move include for girls, Maeve, Magdalena, Maisie, Marguerite, Marlo/Marlowe, May, Mila, Millie, and Minnie, and for boys, Magnus, Micah, Miller, Milo, and Montgomery.

Strong and brave
Word names are taking a new turn away from nouns and toward adjectives. Or are now embracing adjectives as well as nouns Choices we have been hearing: True, Noble, Brave, Strong, Loyal, Loving, Sunny, Golden, Royal, Happy.  One UK soccer star and his fashionista wife tried to beat this trend by naming their son Trendy.

Making a comeback
Betty was so hot for so long that it felt like one of those names that might never come back.  But stylish mommy blogger Gabrielle Blair has a Betty (and a Ralph and a June) and stunning Mad Men actress January Jones did much to heat up the image of this old standard.  Move over, Veronica: There’s a new glamour girl in town.

In the middle
Gone are the old one-syllable connective-tissue middle names like Ann and Lee and Lynn, and in their place are….new one-syllable connective-tissue middle names such as May and Wren and Bee.   Tied to this trend is that of choosing family middle names that are the nicknames of the person being honored, as in Naomi Watts and  Liev Schreiber’s Alexander Pete  and Sara Gilbert’s Levi Hank.

Grandpa’s namesake
When we first saw the name Arlo popping on the back end of Nameberry, we thought maybe folksinger Arlo Guthrie was having a resurgence.  But no, today’s Arlo inspiration is more contemporary but even more unlikely: The gun-toting, pot-dealing grandpa Arlo Givens on television’s Justified.

Endings…that can stay
Nicknames that end in ie – Lottieand Hattie, Addie and Nellie – were all the rage at the end of the 19^thcentury but then gave way to “modern” y endings, which in the 1960s became cute "i" endings, which in the yooneek era morphed into –ee and –eigh and –ea etceteraendings.  But now we’re back where we started from, with sweet vintage nicknames for girls spelled the authentic vintage way, with ie at the end.

Endings…that need to end
We liked Hadley, name of Hemingway’s sympathetic first wife.   And Huxley, Ridley, and Radley, as in Aldous, Scott, and Boo, were all intriguing.  But the trend toward tacking an -ley onto the end of a wide range of first syllables and calling it a name -- Brinley, Kinley, Finley, endlessly -- became so pandemic so quickly that we are ready to declare it over, already.

Nameberry is the baby name website based on ten bestselling books about names coauthored by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, including "Cool Names" and "The Baby Name Bible".

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A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but when do you tell people your sweet little baby's name?

Your child's name is one of the first big parenting decisions you make. Some couples like to keep the name under wraps until the baby is born -- or even after.

Josh and Anna Duggar announced the birth of their second child on TODAY Thursday morning, just hours after their son was born. But they're keeping his name a secret -- at least from the general public. (Josh's parents and 18 siblings may know!)

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Josh and Anna Duggar with their newly arrived baby boy.

Actress Natalie Portman and her fiance recently welcomed a son as well -- but also haven't announced his name.

Some people don't tell because they're still deciding -- or the name they'd picked out in pregnancy somehow doesn't seem to fit when they meet their little bundle of joy in person. Others just like to keep things private.

Of course, some people go the opposite way -- telling people their intended name early on in pregnancy, only to be met with second-guessing by family members, friends and random strangers. Because of course, as with any other parenting decision, everyone's got an opinion!

How did you play the name game? Did you keep your child's name a secret, or shout it out to the world?

Can't get enough Duggarage? Check out these links:
The Duggars would love another child... how about you?
How do you get kids to sit still? Duggars to the rescue!
What's the hardest part about having 19 kids?

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One in five parents admit to regretting their child's name, according to a survey by a British parenting website. Are you one of them?

Whether you were bummed to discover four other little Sophias in your daughter's preschool class, or you've simply tired of explaining the pronounciation of Wmffre, have you ever regretted the name you gave your child?

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The New York Post ran an article yesterday that provided some surprising insight into what new and expectant parents in New York City are thinking. Gone, evidently, are the days of consulting a conventional baby name book or choosing  a name from one’s family tree. It seems that more and more modern New York parents are thumbing through glossy weeklies, flipping through the channels and scouring the annals of popular culture to find the perfect name for their offspring. As such, we’re now hearing names like Jayden, Suri, Denzel and Miley shouted across the playground. Some parents are even choosing names inspired by some of their favorite commercial brand-name merchandise like Chanel, Armani and ... er ... Fanta. That’s right, Fanta.

We’ve been keeping a running tally of some of the weirdest, wildest and … frankly … worst baby names of all time, running the gamut from eccentric celebrity names (Jermaine Jackson’s song, Jermajesty being a particular favorite) through names inspired by foods, diseases, sins, professions and beyond. What are the worst baby names you’ve ever heard? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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