Wolf Files: Baby Name Games

— -- Is your child Unique? Many children are, and it says so on their birth certificate. In the last five years, more than 1,000 little girls in the United States have been named Unique — and they're presumably expected to live up to their parents' expectations.

Baby naming is America's newest creative outlet. When actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave birth Friday to her first child, she and husband Chris Martin proclaimed that the girl would be named Apple Blythe Alison Martin, raising the question: Was the child named after her mom's favorite fruit or her father's laptop computer?

If little Apple Martin does get teased on the playground, let's just hope she one day meets a boy who's Sincere — and that is mathematically possible. Last year, 256 boys were actually named "Sincere," according to Social Security Administration records.

The world hasn't gone completely crazy. The most popular baby names last year were Jacob, Michael and Joshua for boys and Emily, Emma and Madison for girls. However, some of the newest Americans clearly reflect their parents' interests.

For instance, in designer brand-crazy America, you don't have to drive a Lexus to have a Lexus. There were 270 girls named "Lexus" last year, according to the SSA. Another 265 boys were named "Armani."

Alternate spellings are also on the upswing, including Nevaeh (Heaven spelled backward), Canon (like the camera) and Skyy (like the vodka).

"I think you can put some contemporary names into historical context," says Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor at Bellevue University in Nebraska and author of Unusual & Most Popular Baby Names.

In the past, for instance, "babies have been named Ruby or Opal to reflect the parents' aspirations," he says.

Last year, for the first time in American history, the top 50 names accounted for less than 50 percent of boys born each year, and for less than 40 percent of girls.

"It's almost as if parents feel like they've failed their children if the child walks into a classroom and there's another kid with the same name," says Evans.