I think there are two main factors to why we see the popularity of certain names surge. One is what society finds important in a name. Right now in America tha

I think there are two main factors to why we see the popularity of certain names surge. One is what society finds important in a name. Right now in America that is representing uniqueness in the individual, which is why parents get dismayed when they see that they named children like many others, it makes their choice feel much less unique, and by extension, their child. The second part is that is has to sound like a name, if we wanted truly unique names you could name your kid “Ubizalan” and probably nail uniquness, but fail pretty miserably in sounding like a name. This is why we get phenomenon like: Aiden, Brayden, Jayden, Caiden … all very popular names and because of their spelling are “unique” but sound very similar, and therefore like a “name”. I think it is this second phenomenon that results in peaks for certain names. My daughters name is Scarlett, named after one of the colors of the University where my wife and I met. But had it not “sounded” like a legitimate name we wouldn’t have picked it. We certainly didn’t consider the rise of the popularity of the actress Scarlett Johansen, but having subconsiously heard her name in the media, it could have cemented the name as a “legitimate name” and made us more likely to pick it than a name which has faded into more obscure use.