Most Popular Baby Names 2021

Updated Tue Dec 14 2021

The most popular baby names of 2021 feature a new girl name at the top of the list, and no one is more surprised than the name counters themselves.

Eloise came from behind to become Nameberry’s top girls’ name of 2021. Eloise beat out three goddess names, Aurelia, Luna, and Maeve, that traded places at the head of the girls’ popularity list all year. Meanwhile, Eloise steadily amassed enough page views to claim the Number 1 spot.

There’s a new top boy name on Nameberry for 2021 too, but that’s less of a surprise. Arlo has been dominating the list of popular boy names all year, taking over from Milo, the top boys’ name of 2020.

Eloise, a French name meaning healthy or wide, is best-known as the name of the mischievous little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in the eponymous children's book. Arlo is a multicultural name whose best definition is "between two hills".

Top 10 Girl Names 2021

Top 10 Boy Names 2021

Rose, Esme and Imogen are new to the girls’ Top 10 in 2021, replacing Luna, Isla, and national favorite Olivia.

Boy names new to the Top 10 are Kai, Rowan, Finn and Soren, replacing Asher, Leo, Oliver, and Jasper.

Nameberry’s popular names list gauges which names attracted the most attention from the site’s visitors over the year. Rather than a measure of how many babies received each name, it’s a prediction of which names parents are most likely to choose in the future.

Think of it as a look inside the collective baby name brain. Which names are people most fascinated by, interested in, attracted to? Those names don’t show up on last year’s statistics, they appear on the popular names lists of the future.

Nameberry’s popularity list is most useful for parents who want to make sure their secret favorite name does not turn out to be everybody’s secret favorite name. A name like Imogen is not even on the national Top 1000, so parents would be justified in believing it's rare. But when it shows up on Nameberry's Top 10, it could be the Jennifer of tomorrow.

Top 100 Baby Names 2021

Looking at the entire list of most popular baby names for 2021, there are 15 new girl names and 19 new boy names among the Top 100.

Girl names new to the Top 100 in 2021 are Ottilie, Juniper, Cecilia, Willow, Ruby, Kaia, Esther, Saoirse, Alexandra, Sage, Lila, Millie, Margot, Avery, and Flora. Ottilie is the highest-ranking new entrant to the popular names list at Number 25, inspired by influencer Zoe Sugg’s daughter Ottilie Rue.

Boy names new (or returning) to Top 100 in 2021 are August, Danger, Noah, Elliot, Kieran, Nico, River, Remy, Cosmo, Ellis, Ari, Rory, Knox, Simon, Aurelius, Beau, Dylan, Kit, Jonah. August is the highest-ranking new entry among boy names at Number 11, inspired by Princess Eugenie’s son August Philip Hawke along with Mandy Moore’s August Harrison, both born in February.

Names that begin with El- are among the biggest winners and losers in Nameberry’s name popularity contest. Along with Eloise, other El- names winning favor with the site’s visitors are Elias and Elio for boys, Elodie for girls.

El- names losing ground are Elena, Ellie, Eli, and Elijah, which all dropped 25 or more places, while Ella, Elise, and Eliana fell off the Top 100 completely.

Other big winners among boy names are Orion, Luca, Caspian, and Rhys. Girl names Daphne, Sienna, Wren, Stella, and Imogen all vaulted up the list.

How does the Nameberry list of popular names compare with the official US Top 100? Sixty percent of Nameberry’s top baby names 2021 do not appear on the Social Security Popular Names list for 2020, the most recent year counted.

Historically, Nameberry’s top names are ahead of the curve, showing up on the national Top 100 four or five years later. Those names you’re destined to hear a lot more of are Ottilie, Seraphina, Imogen, Cordelia, Flora, Persephone, Florence, Saoirse, and Elodie. For boys, names destined for future popularity include Danger, Lucifer, Cosmo, Aurelius, Kit, Lucius, Elio, Cassian, Ambrose, Magnus.

Here are the full lists of Top 100 girl names and Top 100 boy names for 2021.

Top 100 Girl Names 2021

Top 100 Boy Names 2021

Research and analysis by Clare Green.

About the Author

Pamela Redmond

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Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.

View all of Pamela Redmond's articles