July 21st, 2010
This week we’re looking for your predictions of what the top boy and girl names will be a decade from now–one for each gender.
Will it be a name that’s already in the Top 10 or a dark horse that you see moving up from behind?
Check back with us in 2020 to see the results!
Girls: Zoe, Claire, Amelia, Madelyn, Gabriella, Lily and Charlotte – all rising up the charts steadily and have that univeral appeal of super names like Sophia and Isabella.
Ruby, Violet and Isla – these are moving up the charts FAST as if from nowhere and have the added impact of being celeb names/celeb baby names.
So those are my top 10 predictions for girls names!
Boys names don’t change as drastically, I mean Jacob is in it’s 11th year at the top! I do think it’ll be beaten soon but will probably remain in the top 10 for a while. Max could be a top 10 contender though, along with Lucas, Liam, Jack, Mason, Elijah, Aiden, Noah and William!
I predict Violet and Finn will be the number one baby names in
10 years!
Names don’t move as quickly as we think. I’d guess Sophia and Jack for a boys? Maybe Sophia and Ethan? Perhaps Ella, too.
Names that are lower down on the top top list now, barring some pop culture phenomenon that we can’t know about now. Ruby stands a good shot at being more popular but I don’t know that it’ll be a top 10 name.
Think for girls Bella, Ella and maybe but I hope not Isla!
For boys Liam, Max, and I hope not Finn and I think Jacob will still be in the top 10!
Can’t wait to see but I guess I’ll have to! Lol!
Boys: I think Jack has a great chance of taking the top spot. I know at least ten little boys named Jack; I’m surprised it’s only at #42. It’s one of those names that (almost) everyone likes, so I can totally see it. AND PLEASE… LET THE REIGN OF THE -ADENS END!!
Girls: This is harder, because the popular girl’s names change much more than the boy’s. They also tend to be much trendier. One thing I have noticed is that the top spot for girls is almost always taken by a “vintage” name (although it isn’t so vintage anymore once it hits #1). My best guess is Charlotte, Ella, or Emma.
My greatest hope for the top names of 2020: no more youneek/tryndee spellings, please!
Satchel is shooting up the elite nameberry rankings like a rocket, so that’s my pick for boys. I’ll take a long shot for girls and go with Fifi, judging by all the talk about Rufus — even though few who love that name so much actually bestow it on a child.
Great post. I love predictions!
For girls, I see a few groups rising:
Serious old lady names (Amelia, Charlotte, Evelyn, Vivian, Lillian)
Breezy names that end with an -a (Isla, Lila, Eva, Maya, Bella, Stella)
Colorful names (Lily, Ruby, Violet, Hazel)
Surnames (Harper, Avery, Aubrey)
For boys, I see slightly different groupings:
Short, strong Irish names (Liam, Finn, Owen, Evan)
Classics (William, Alexander, Henry, Oliver)
Biblical names (Ethan, Michael, Daniel, Lucas, Elijah, Noah)
Surnames (Jackson, Landon, Carter)
I’m thinking some of the more trendy names right now like Violet, Amelia, Finley and Greyson will move up, but possibly fall back down. All these vintage names for girls seem to be shooting up the charts like crazy, but will peopl tire of them before they reach the top? Possibly not. But, there is always a chance. If not, and these names continue to rise, I predict the girls top ten will look a little something like this: Violet, Molly, Ruby, Stella, Lilah, Isla and Charlotte. However, if these names do not rise like predicted, then I really don’t know what to expect. I sense a rise in some names such as Lola and Leilani… Fun and feminine, exotic and wild. But who really knows?
I think one thing is for sure: Most of the dreadful tryndeigh names will be gone. Goodbye (hopefully) Makynzeigh and Addysyn.
Ethan and Amelia.
As others have pointed out, the boys names move quite slowly. Ethan has been creeping up the chart for years and just edged out Michael for #2, so I think it’ll be on top in 10 years.
Interestingly, Isabella, the current #1, was only #60 in 1989! Katherine is #60 for the current list, but I don’t see it making it to the top. Amelia has more the flavor of the more recent #1′s, Emily, Emma, and Isabella, and it’s currently #55 and rising. I could see Bella being #1 (currently #58), but I’m hoping the Twilight craze will die down!
olivegreen, I think your groupings are spot on, though, grrrr. Our boy due in a month will be Owen and if we have another boy it will be Finn!
i agree – olivegreen is GOOD! i also want to point out that in hard times like these (bad economy), people tend to stear away from trendiness and lean on hard, true names of past ancestors who made it through similar hard times. i feel for both boys and girls (more for girls though), that VINTAGE names or family names are what we’ll see in the years ahead. hoping this generation of hippies who want their kid’s names to be “unique” and hard to spell will subside! i’m going with tried and true all the way for 2020!
I say something stark, a noun, something beauty related:
Emerald for a girl and Lark for a boy?
I *hope* that the Twilight names will peak around 2014 or something and then finally begin to drop.
Unless there’s a Midnight Sun book-then-movie release folderol around 2016 that’ll bring numbers back up. I have no idea, but I could see publishers wanting to prolong the twilight thing. They’ll need something after the film version of BD releases and dies down (if that thing can even be filmed).
Um, not that anybody asked. *ahem*
I second olivegreen’s predictions. I heart the vintage name movement! Can you believe Betty is coming back??? I love it!
1. Margaret & Michael
2. Lily & Jackson
3. Anna & William
I can’t believe how many people think it’ll be Charlotte! I hope not!
July 21st, 2010 at 1:54 am
Bella & Liam