Riley—an upbeat, friendly surname name—is red hot for girls and still going strong for boys. If you haven't been spending much time around babies recently, you may be surprised to learn that Riley is the most popular girls' name starting with R and also the Number 1 Irish name for girls in the US.

Ava is one of the prime examples of a modern classic name, ranking in the Top 10 for 20 years, from 2005 through 2024, only falling out in 2025.

Grace, a simple and pure virtue name which originally referred to divine grace, is a fashionable classic. In the early 2000s, it seemed headed for the Top 10 but pulled back from the upward trajectory, which you may consider a very good thing.

Owen, a resonant Celtic name, has ranked among the Top 100 boys' names in the US for 20 years and is now at its highest point ever.

Jack may have fallen from its Number 1 place in England, but in the US it's as popular as it was at its height in the 1920s and 1930s. A durable, cheery, everyman form of John, Jack ranks as one of the most popular boy names starting with J.

Ella is a sweet, simple name that owes much of its current popularity to the popularity of other names, from Emma to Bella to Emily to Ellie.

Benjamin is a biblical name that has enjoyed widespread favor for decades, ranking in the US Top 50 for almost half a century and the Top 10 from 2015 until 2023.

Luke is a cool-yet-strong Biblical name with a relaxed cowboy feel, which has been on the rise since the advent of Luke Skywalker.

Natalie — a Franco-Russian name — became Americanized years ago and is one of those surprising names that's always ranked among the girls' Top 1000 names in the US.

Michael was the Number 1 American boys' name for almost half a century. While Michael has moved out of the Top 10 baby boy names, it's still widely used.

When Jennifer finally gave up her Number 1 place on the girls' popularity list, her crown was passed to Jessica, who reigned for not one but two decades. Jessica was the Number 1 name in both the mid-1980s and 1990s, never sounding quite as trendy as its predecessor, maybe because of its classic Shakespearean pedigree.

The presidential Tyler rocketed up popularity charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s (it ranked Number 9 for that entire decade), along with cousin Taylor, becoming almost pandemic across the land-- and to make matters more confusing, both (especially Taylor) have been used for girls as well.

This once obscure name was propelled to fame by Britney Spears, and by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith in the 2000's. It skyrocketed into the US Top 10 for boys, but it also saw significant use for girls.