Don’t be surprised when you go to a baby shower for a little one named “Rip” or “Wheeler.”
Needless to say, Taylor Sheridan has made his mark on pop culture. His western dramas like Yellowstone and The Madison (just to name a few) fully immerse fans in the worlds of the west. The impact of that has seeped into plenty of facets of life, including how people discover their music.
We did a deep dive on what we dubbed the “Yellowstone Effect,” as it pertains to country music artists featured in the show. When an artist has a song featured on the show, or any Sheridan show for that matter, it provides an incredible growth opportunity and the song typically shoots up to the top of the charts and sees a massive increase in streams once it’s been featured. A number of artists, including Whiskey Myers, Shane Smith and the Saints, and more have the data to back it up.
And now, there’s even data that suggests the “Yellowstone Effect” is impacting how parents name their children.
Rebekah Wahlberg, a specialist in baby-name trends at BabyCenter, spoke to Reader’s Digest and shared that the rising popularity of country music – and the emergence of shows like Yellowstone and Landman in the past decade or so – have led to more western-themed baby names. Dutton is one of the more common baby names in recent years, and that’s all a part of a growing trend:
“This trend is more popular for boys, but there are a handful of Western-themed girl names in the top 100 too. On the boys’ side, we have Colton, Walker, Jeremiah, Silas, Micah, Weston, Ezekiel, Josiah, Wyatt and Maverick. For girls, there’s Sadie, Lucy, Delilah, Abigail and Oakley.”
Oddly enough, many of those names… Jeremiah, Micah, Ezekiel and Josiah, as well as Delilah, Abigail and even Sadie… seem to have a Biblical origin, and/or Hebrew roots so I’m not entirely sure how much that overlaps with “Western,” but I suppose that rural communities tend to be more religious. I would suspect that early pioneers were religious as well, which explains why some might consider what are historically Biblical names to be considered… “Western.”
Other names that have apparently been popping up more and more are Cheyenne, Pearl and River for girls, and Cody, Denver and Jackson for boys. Some are looking to western features, or even western cities, for name inspiration. Even country-inspired names like Cash and Conway have been used more and more in recent years, and names like Winona and Houston have steadily risen in BabyCenter’s rankings of most popular baby names.
It’s yet another aspect of life that’s leaning into the western way of life.
Music and baby names aren’t the only thing that Taylor Sheridan’s western-themed shows have affected in some way. In the years since Yellowstone’s debut, ranches in the United States have become more and more sought after. And thanks to Realtor.com’s Luxury Housing Report, we now know that in the last 10 years, the median price for a ranch has gone up 112%. That’s double the rise in regular homes, which have gone up 66% in the same decade.
Stars of Yellowstone and their spinoffs, Luke Grimes (Marshals) and Cole Hauser (Dutton Ranch), have even gotten in on the ranch movement. Both swapped their urban real estate for ranch style at one point… Hauser has since sold his California ranch, but Grimes still lives on the land that he bought out in Montana.
When Sheridan set out to bring Yellowstone to life, I doubt he knew the widespread impact the series would have on the country – and the world. Country music is better off because of it, the real estate market has been impacted by it, and there are little kids named “Dutton” walking around out there.
