As time goes by, old Maltese celebrities we’ve come to know and love have needed to embrace a newer generation of fans. And while some of them have succeeded, others have had to bow down to newer personalities taking over everyone’s screens, lives and hearts. And if there was one person who truly made 2017 his, it was Ben Camille. Now, we have the ultimate proof, and it’s all thanks to a simple (but startling) statistic about baby names.

The list of the three most common baby names for boys and girls has been issued for 2017, and a quick comparison with the last seventeen years brings to light a very obvious observation. The name Ben, absent since the turn of the millennium, has suddenly shown up… in second place, no less.

Perhaps this was Camille’s plan all along? An army of Bens?

Quickly becoming one of the celebrity-cameos-to-have on any Maltese production, Ben Camille recently shot to further fame thanks to the debut of his reality TV show Benjamin, the first of its kind in Malta’s broadcasting history. He’s also featured on a couple of Lovin Malta specials, from our talked-about April Fool’s Stunt to the Lovin Live Halloween Special where he literally put a pig eye in his mouth. And it looks like the country might not have been as ready as we thought, because the young model-turned-TV-presenter-turned-star has inspired more than a couple of viewers in the bedroom.

This year, a total of 42 Bens were registered, putting the name squarely in between third place Liam (40) and first place Luca (54). The latter, much like classic favourite Jake, has been popping in and out of the list for a decade now, and was the top baby boy name for 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. So we’re just going to let that one slide and give the revered spot to the total newcomer on the list (at least in our hearts). 

The face of someone who’s known all along

The three most common baby girl names were Emma, Ella and Amy, with 57, 45 and 41 occurrences respectively. While the top two have retained their position from the previous years, Amy came back after a four year absence to knock Leah off the list. Sorry Leah.

So if you’re expecting and you want to name your boy after the hottest name in the Maltese celebrity industry right now, there’s really one name to consider.

Tag a Ben.

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David Grech Urpani

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).