Category: Trends and Predictions
by Joe Satran
The boys’ names here are all up dramatically in usage over the past ten years. The explosion might be due to a popular sports star, as with Iker, or a celebrity baby, such as Knox, or some mysterious algorithm of qualities. Here, the 25 hottest names for baby boys and how much they’ve increased from 2006 to 2016.
by Joe Satran
You know those baby names you feel like you’ve never heard before and then suddenly seem to be everywhere? It’s not an illusion: Some names come from seemingly nowhere to explode onto the scene, like the girls’ names here, up dramatically in usage over the past ten years. Here, the 25 hottest names for baby girls and how much they’ve increased from 2006 to 2016.
By Sophie Kihm
Celebrities are the taste-makers of the baby name world. Sid and McCoy–two names that were on nobody’s radar screen–now have serious style cred thanks to the Biggs and Porter families. I would not be surprised to see McCoy break into the top 1000 for 2016 (which comes out this Friday–hooray!).
Some stars, like Whitney Port, are bound to be influential in their baby name choice. And no matter what they choose, everyone’s going to be talking about what Heidi Montag Pratt and Serena Williams name their babies. So let’s get into it! I’ve made my predictions below–how do they compare to yours?
Quick: What were the most popular boys’ and girls’ names of 2016? Emma and Noah, you say? Wrong — at least unless you live in Pennsylvania or Texas.
True, Emma and Noah came out on top when the Social Security Administration released its annual list of the most popular baby names of the year last week. But today, they came out with a follow-up that broke down baby name popularity by state. And this more detailed list revealed major differences in baby name popularity from state to state.
Only in Pennsylvania and Texas did Emma and Noah both rank Number 1. In the other 48 states, plus the District of Columbia, another name took the top spot for boys, girls or both.
The most striking trend — as with the past few years — was the sharp divide between the Deep South and the rest of the country. In most of the Dixie states, Ava was the top girls’ name and William was the top boys’ name.
The twin names of Olivia and Oliver also posted strong showings, especially in the northwest quadrant of the country. They were the most popular boys’ and girls’ names in Oregon, Utah, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Mia and Harper both took the top slot for girls’ in multiple states, while Charlotte, Isabella and Evelyn each hit Number 1 in one state.
On the boys’ side, Liam, the Number 2 name overall in the U.S., had another strong year, coming in first in states from Alaska to Florida. Benjamin and Elijah both took the prize in two states, and James, Henry, Wyatt, Mason and Owen all reigned supreme in one state.
Perhaps the most unusual state for baby names in 2016 was Minnesota. Neither of its two winners, Evelyn and Henry, was the top name in any other state or even in the national Top 10.
What names were Number 1 in your state? Click through to see the maps.
by Pamela Redmond, with research by Joe Satran
If you want to give your baby a name that transcends this decade, make sure it doesn’t start with Ad-, end with –ley, contain the letter x, or honor a star who suffered a tragic death.
That’s what we found when we analyzed the Social Security baby names data of 2016 versus 2006 and identified which names have exploded in use over the past ten years and how those combine to create the major baby name trends of the decade.
Juniper and Jayceon, according to our research, may well prove as emblematic of these times as Jennifer and Jason were of the 1970s. The 40 names that have increased the most in usage over the past ten years – which also include Adalynn and Brantley, Monroe and Hendrix – may sound fresh and stylish now, but are likely to become the Brittany and Brian of the future.
Here, our statistical analysis of the dominant baby name trends of the decade and the hot baby names that influenced them.