Most Popular Baby Names of 2017
The biggest news in the most popular baby names in the US for 2017 is that there’s a new boys’ name at the top of the list. Liam, the Irish short form of William, long used on its own, moves from second place to first.
For girls, Emma is Number 1 for the fourth time, while newcomers to the girl Top 10 list are Amelia and Evelyn. Oliver and Logan are the new boys in the Top 10, Oliver entering at Number 9 and Logan making a remarkable leap from 18 to 5. Evelyn broke back into the Top 10 for the first time since 1915!
Other big climbers in the Boy Top 50 are Wyatt, up 8 places, Mateo, up 17 and Lincoln up 9. Bella squeezed onto the Top 50, after being #78 in 2016. Other rising girls: Luna, thanks to diehard Harry Potter fans, rose 40 places to reach #37, Bella entered the Top 50 after being 78 last year, and Mila, Nora and Hazel also made substantial gains.
Who have they displaced at the very top? Emily and Harper are no longer Top 10 girl names, while for boys long-running Michael and biblical Ethan have dropped down.
The Top 10 baby names for 2017 in the US, with comparisons to their standings in 2016, are:
Fastest rising boy names
Oseias: Up 1080%
Maui: Up 720%
Cassian: Up 573.7%
Ashad: Up 457.1%
Dak: Up 450%
Rhyatt: Up 385.7%
Hendrixx: Up 360%
Miliano: Up 340%
Jaxtyn: Up 330.2%
Joriel: Up 320%
Other fast-rising names of note include Chosen, Rosamund, Honest and Zoa for girls; and Giannis, Bright, Ivar and Zurich for boys.
Here are our Top 12 Takeaways from this new release for expectant parents and name mavens:
1. Michael fell from the Top 10 boys’ names for the first time in 75 years. This longtime Number 1 name for boys first entered the Top 10 in 1943.
2. Boys’ names are getting more fashionable, with more volatility up and down the list and more new name entries, relative to girls’ names. In sheer numbers, there were 49 more boys’ names on the extended list of baby names in use than there were last year, and 448 fewer girls’ names.
3. Melania is the fifth hottest girls’ name, up to Number 720, and Ivanka is up 48%, ranking just outside the Top 1000. Other Trump-influenced names rising: Mattis, surname of secretary of defense James Mattis, up 77%, along with Theodore, the name of Ivanka and Jared’s youngest son.
4. L is the hottest first letter for boys’ names, with the ascendance of Liam to Number 1, Logan into the Top 10, and Lincoln, Legend, Leo and Leon rising fast.
5. For girls, names ending in la or the la sound are superhot, with Ella, Isla, Mila, Layla, Bella, Isabella, Camila, and Delilah all rising sharply.
6. Names that start with the K sound, via the first initial K or C, are up dramatically, especially for boys. Among the top ten fastest-rising boys’ names are Kairo, Kace, Kashton, and Koa. Boy’s names starting with the Cas sound – Cassian, Casper, Caspian, all up sharply.
7. The names of all the One Direction members rose, with Zayn the hottest, rising 33%, followed by Niall, Liam, Louis, and Harry.
8. The hottest Kardashian baby name in 2017 was Dream, the name of Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna’s little girl, the third fastest-rising girls’ name moving into the Top 1000.
9. Space names for girls are heading for the stars. Luna is the biggest riser in the Top 100, increasing 46%. Nova up 33% to enter the Top 100, Lyra up 33% to Number 728, Aurora is up 15%, Celeste up 13%, and Star up 27%. Further down the list, but skyrocketing, are Moon (up 214%) and Solstice (up 140%).
10. In percentage terms, the biggest risers were the newly-invented Westlynn and Westlyn for girls, up 660% and 350%. For boys, it’s Oseias, a spin on the ancient Greek Osias, up more than 1000%, and place-name Maui, up 720%.
11. Parents seem to be just getting warmed up in inventing new names. Ensley is the fastest-rising girls’ name and Enzley one of the biggest percentage risers. Other fast risers that are invented names or creative adaptations include Brezlyn, Kaari, Whisper, and Mazikeen for girls, and for boys, Dak, Rhyatt, Miliano, Jaxtyn, and Joriel.
12. Craziest hot new spelling: Jru, pronounced like Drew, given to nearly 100 babies and doubling in use for both genders.