For heaven's sake, what's up with the name Nevaeh? It's "heaven" -- spelled backwards. And it's the hot new name for baby girls in the U.S. While only No. 70 on the list of the top 100 names for girls, five years ago, it wasn't even on the list. "The name has exploded in popularity in the last three years; it literally came out of nowhere to be in the top 100 names," says Laura Wattenberg, a name researcher and author of The Baby Name Wizard (Broadway). The name may have been born in evangelical Christian circles and then moved mainstream in 2000, when Christian rocker Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. introduced his baby daughter, Nevaeh (pronounced nuh-VAY-uh), during an appearance on the MTV celebrity home show, MTV Cribs. But Wattenberg is not willing to call this a celebrity baby-naming trend; instead, she says, it illustrates parents' preoccupation with coming up with creative names. "Madonna's children (Rocco and Lourdes) had no effect on baby names. I think Nevaeh has struck a chord because it's a whole new way to create a name. Across the country, there are probably a thousand expectant parents spelling words backward to try and create the new 'Nevaeh,' but it's harder than it seems."

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