Popular Names and Name Trends
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Antique Baby Names Back in Style
Vintage baby names have been on the rise for several years now, with some antique names climbing popularity lists and reaching the heights of style. Vintage revivals such as Theodora and Ambrose were among the fastest-rising names of the year.
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Baby Names from Children's Books
Baby names from books are stylish right now, and none more so than baby names from children's books, typified by such high-rising choices as Eloise, Sawyer, and Madeline.
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Baby Names So Far In They're Out
One of the cornerstones of our work reinventing the way people look at baby names is our list of So Far In They're Out Names. These are trendy names, those that are very in today (or this decade) but are likely to be very out tomorrow. Being popular is not enough to land a name on this list: Names such as Emma and Noah, Charlotte and James may move in and out of fashion but they're hardly trendy. Names here are those that are very very in....until they're very very out.
The up side of trendy names: Kids usually like having names that help them fit in with the crowd, they're easy to understand, they're perfectly in style. The downside: They tend to move out as precipitously as they came in and to linked forever more to this era. Examples of past names that were so far in they were out include Jennifer and Jason, Jessica and Joshua, Ava and Aiden, Katelyn and Kevin. Names that are So Far In They're Out today might include: -
Belle and Bella Names
Isabella has been a Top Ten girl name for over a decade thanks to its romantic femininity and multicultural appeal. It’s inspired the rise of many other names ending in bel, belle, and bella, including Belle and Bella themselves.
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Best Baby Names Starting with A
Baby names starting with the letter A are the most popular in the entire alphabet today. Why? Vowel names in general are stylish, and it may be that we associate the letter A with excellence, as opposed to C, D, or F!
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Best One-of-a-Kind Names for Boys
Unique names that nobody — and by nobody, we mean zero people in the US the last year counted — is using for their baby boys in America include the following fascinating boy names.
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Best One-of-a-Kind Names for Girls
Unique names that nobody (yes, really!) is using for baby girls in the US include the following, all ranking below the five-baby cutoff necessary to make the Social Security extended list in 2019.
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Boy Names ALWAYS in the Top 1000
There are just under 200 baby boy names that have been on the Top 1000 since 1880, when the U.S. Social Security office began tracking baby names. The classic boy names here — such as Oliver and William — are included among that elite group that has been perennially popular.
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Boy Names That Peaked in 2018
These boy names were at their highest point ever on the official US popularity list in 2018. That may mean, of course, that they're at their lifetime peak and it's all downhill from here. Or it might mean they're hot and will only get hotter. A name that's been very popular for a long time, like Liam or Oliver, is more likely to soften than one that's been motoring up the charts, like Maverick or Weston. Maverick and Weston's true peak most likely lies several years ahead. The only thing this list tells you for sure is that these names are finding widespread favor, whether they're already in the Top 10 or lie much further down the list.
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Boy Names Trendier Than You Think
The trendiest baby boy names may be a very different group than you'd guess, especially for the first-time parent new to recent baby-naming fads and popular name trends. We've analyzed several years of official name popularity lists to pinpoint the boys' names that are make fast strides up the charts. Some of these names have vaulted into the Top 1000, others are getting ready to break through. Here, some surprisingly trendy baby names for boys.
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Celebrity-Inspired Baby Names
Many of the hottest baby names today are inspired by celebrities. These are not celebrity baby names but the names of celebrities that have been widely adopted as names for babies. Names like Mila, Audrina, and Khloe all owe their success to their famous bearers. Names inspired by celebrities can be taken from stars past or present. Here are the star-inspired names that are rising through the ranks.
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English Word Names
English names might be easiest to define when they're actual word names drawn from the English languages and transformed into baby names. This genre has grown tremendously in the past decade, to the point that now parents are creating names from words they love or that have a symbolic meaning in English along with other languages such as Spanish, French, or Italian.
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Fashionable Classic Baby Names
Classic baby names that are also fashionable top today's popularity lists, with fashionable classic girl names Emma, Olivia, Sophia, and Charlotte ranking in the US Top 10, while James, William, and Benjamin make the Top 10 names for boys. Other fashionable classic baby names getting more popular include Adeline, Amelia, and Ella for girls; Henry, Oliver, and Theodore for boys. If your taste runs toward the more unusual, there are those fashionable classic names that don't quite make the Top 100, such as Hope and June for girls, Felix and Orion for boys. Of course, not every classic name is fashionable or vice versa, but these qualify on both counts.
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Fastest-Rising Boy Names
The fastest-rising boy name last year was Sekani, inspired by the character Sekani Carter in the film The Hate U Give. The movie was the largest pop culture influence on the baby name sphere in 2019. It also biased the rise of Seven, Sekani’s brother in the film.
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Fastest-Rising Girl Names
The fastest-rising girl name last year was Amoura, name related to the Latin word for “love.” Amoura is the leader of a super group of smooth girl names that are gaining popularity in the US. Many of the other top risers have a similar cadence — among them, Alaia, Alara, Alora, and Amirah.
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Favorite Names on Nameberry
Nameberry visitors are more intelligent and sophisticated and have more style than the average baby namer -- of course we do -- and the names we love often become future favorites on the official popularity lists. Many of the baby names beloved on Nameberry are also popular among the rest of the country, but the names here are loved significantly more on Nameberry. These Nameberry favorite baby names are destined for more widespread appreciation.
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Girl Names ALWAYS in the Top 1000
These perennially popular girl names have all appeared on the Top 1000 list for every year since the U.S. government started keeping records in 1880. Forever favorites include the ultra-traditionals such as Elizabeth and Katherine, as well as nickname names such as Annie and Josie.
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Girl Names That Peaked in 2018
These girl names were at their highest point ever on the official US popularity list in 2018.
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Girl Names Trendier Than You Think
The trendiest baby girl names right now may be a very different group than you'd guess, especially for the first-time parent new to recent baby-naming fads and trends.
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Hipster Baby Names
Hipster baby names are names that are favored by hip, stylish parents, none of whom want to be accused of using hipster names for their children. That makes hipster names a moving target -- as soon as a name becomes identifiably hipster, hip parents start to avoid it. What qualities are shared by hipster names? They're usually conventional names but not popular ones. They might be quirky and edgy but may also have deep roots. Old-fashioned nickname-names often strike a hipster vibe, as do mythological names and boys' names used for girls. The letters O, Q, X, and Z are often found in hipster names. The hipster baby names most often heard around Brooklyn, Austin and Madison these days (though we can't resist pointing out that the names Brooklyn, Austin and Madison are nowhere among them).
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Hot New Names of the 2010s
The 500+ names on this list all ranked in the Top 1000 in 2018....but not ten years before. They are the baby names that defined the decade of the 2010s, rising from obscurity -- sometimes thousands of years of it -- or newly created to find widespread favor with parents.
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Modern Hero Baby Names
Modern hero baby names send a powerful message about your values and the qualities you hope your child will one day embody. They might be inspired by stars of screen or sports or literature or politics. Modern hero names may also honor heroes and heroines of the past who still inspire us today, such as Eleanor Roosevelt or Duke Ellington.
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Most Common Names for Boys
Common names are not the same as popular names: Common names are those most often found among the total population or for a certain period of time, as opposed to those popular for babies born in any one year. These are the 100 most common names for males in the US in the past century, with James at the top of the list, followed by John, Robert, Michael, and William. Some popular names for boys today, such as #1 Liam, don't yet make it onto the list of the century's most common male names. Over time, older names such as Gary and Eugene will pass away, to be replaced by names such as Aiden and Jackson given to so many baby boys today.
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Most Common Names for Girls
Common names are different from popular names as they denote names found most widely amongst the entire population, not just used for babies in a single year. Names most common for females in the US over the past century are listed here, with Mary claiming the top spot, followed by Patricia, Jennifer, Linda, and Elizabeth. Some of the top names for baby girls today, such Sophia and Isabella, don't quite make it onto the Most Common Names list yet, but as older names such as Doris and Joyce fade away, they'll be replaced by newer popular names such as Ava and Charlotte. These are the 100 most common girl names of the past century.
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Most Popular Names for Dogs
The top dog names today are also baby names. While there is no authoritative list by country of popular names for dogs, different organizations such as the American Kennel Club and locales like New York City keep their own lists of popular dog names, led by Bella for girls and Max for boys.
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Nameberry's Top Boy Names of the 2010s
These are Nameberry's Top 100 boys' names for the decade of the 2010s. Our most popular names list is calculated on which boy names received the most page views on Nameberry. These are not necessarily the most popular names received by baby boys over the decade, but the names parents searched for most on our site. While there may not be a direct correlation to the official popularity lists in the US or any other country, this represents a guide to the most stylish, intriguing names for boys of the past decade.
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Nameberry's Top Girl Names 2010s
These are Nameberry's Top 100 girl names for the entire decade of the 2010s. Our top names list is calculated on which names received the most page views on Nameberry. These are not necessarily the most popular names received by baby girls over the decade, but the names parents searched for most on our site. While there may not be a direct correlation to the official popularity lists in the US or any other country, this represents a guide to the most stylish, intriguing names for girls of the past ten years.
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New Baby Names on the Rise
These new baby names have only recently been born but are rising through baby names popularity lists and we predict will be used more frequently in the future.
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Number One Baby Names
Baby names that have achieved the top standing in the U.S. are an elite group. Since the beginning of American baby-naming time, 1880, there have been only 16 baby names that have reached Number One, with David only touching the top for one year each and Ashley for just two.
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Popular Irish Baby Names
The top Irish baby names are very different in the US and in Ireland, with selections from each country rarely heard in the other. Choices like Liam, Finn, and Conor overlap, but in general many of the Irish-rooted names common in Ireland are like Caoimhe and Oisín, that are unintuitive to Americans. The exception is Saoirse, which is rising in the US thanks to actress Saoirse Ronan.
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Popular Italian Baby Names
The top Italian baby names in the US and Italy are more different than they are similar, with Americans preferring names such as Isabella and Leo, while the Italians go for Ginevra and Alessandro. There is some overlap between the two countries, with names including Leonardo, Elena, Matteo, and Arianna ranking highly in both the US and Italy.
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Popular Nicknames
Popular nicknames may be used on their own on the birth certificate or might be short forms for proper names ranging from the common to the unusual.
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Top 1900s Baby Names
The top baby names of the 1900s include some choices newly back in style and others still moored in that long-ago era. While we may not be hearing many babies named Bertha and Clarence soon, names such as Mabel and Florence, Henry and Arthur are very much back in style. Sourced from the Top 50 of the decade from 1900 to 1910, here is a list of popular baby names which are relatively rare today.
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Top 1910s Baby Names
The top names in the 1910s are coming back in a big way today, following the Hundred Year Rule. Classic names from a century ago are featured on this list, sourced from the era of The Great War, from the 1910 to 1920. These 1910s names were in the Top 50 then but many are relatively rare today. We are hearing more babies with such 1910s names as Elsie and Edith, Walter and Henry, though Gladys and Elmer still have a ways to go before they come back into style.
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Top 1920s Baby Names
1920s baby names are due to come back into style, following the Hundred Year Rule. Top names of the 1920s include those on this list that were in the Top 50 in that decade but are not as widely-used today. 1920s names we are starting to hear include Florence and Frances, Hazel and Louise for girls; Arthur and Harry, Walter and royal baby name Louis for boys. Many of the 1920s names sound serious to contemporary ears, with their (often) two-syllable rhythm and consonant endings. These 1920s baby names may be the names of your great-grandparents and so have family meaning for you, or simply have not been stylish in so long that they're ready for a comeback. Browse the prime baby names from the 1920s here.
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Top 1930s Baby Names
1930s baby names took a serious turn along with the mood of the country during the Great Depression, with many names popular in that decade feeling decidedly out of style today. But given the Hundred Year Rule, we see names from the 1930s starting to feel more appealing over the coming decade, so we may be in for a new generation of girls named Barbara and Joan and boys called Ronald and Howard. These 1930s names may be familiar to you via grandparents or great-grandparents or other older relatives born in the first half of the 20th century. If you are interested in exploring names from the 1930s for your baby, browse the selection here drawn from the Top 50 for that decade but relatively rare today.
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Top 1940s Baby Names
Names from the 1940s' Top 50 may be one generation shy of sounding cool today. Many of these 1940s names are classics that were revived for the first generation of post-World War II babies, the oldest Baby Boomers. Expect to start hearing them on babies again in 20 years, when baby names from the 1940s will be a century old and so ready to return to style.
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Top 1950s Baby Names
Baby names from the 1950s epitomize the Baby Boom. These are the names of today's grandmas and grandpas, not quite baby-ready for a another generation. Sourced from the 1950s' Top 50, here is a list of popular baby names from that decade which are relatively rare today. If you really want to buck current fashions, you might choose one of these 1950s baby names for your 21st century child.
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Top 1960s Baby Names
Names from the 1960s Top 50 sound straight from a midcentury TV show. These 1960s names might be the names of your parents, both too current and too old-fashioned to be stylish. The top names of the 1960s include the following.
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Top 1970s Baby Names
The top baby names popular in the 1970s are more likely to be the names of today's parents, not their children. Some of these names, such as Karen and Susan, Todd and Chad, have taken on new meaning from being associated with current memes.
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Top Baby Names 1980s
The top baby names of the 1980s are the names of the new moms and dads of today. Sourced from the 1980s'US Top 50, here is a list of popular names from the 1980s that which are relatively rare for babies today. But you'll probably recognize these 1980s names as the names of the other moms and dads in your childbirth class!
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Top Baby Names 1990s
The top baby names of the 1990s are heard more often on new parents than they are on babies. These popular American names were used relatively more often for babies born in the US in the 90s than they are today. If the Hundred-Year Rule continues to hold, we can expect to see these 1990s names on babies at the end of the 21st century.
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Top Baby Names 2020
The top baby names of 2020 include brand new names, rediscovered vintage names, and names imported from around the world.
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Top Bible Baby Names
Bible baby names have been among the most popular classic names over the past several decades. Old Testament Names for boys, such as Jacob and Noah, have been high on the popular baby names list, but some Biblical girls' names — particularly Elizabeth — are also longtime classic favorites.
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Top Boy Names 2020
The top boy names of 2020 are a mix of the boys' names most popular in the official ranks along with baby boy names rising quickly through the charts.
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Top Girl Names 2020
The top girl names of 2020 are likely to be a mix of the girls' names most popular in the official ranks along with baby girl names rising quickly through the charts.
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Top Irish Baby Names
Irish baby names on Ireland's recent Top 100 popularity list include the following native choices. In the US, top names from this list include Irish boy names Liam and Finn. Liam and Finn are international stars too, making the lists of top names in nations as diverse as Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand. Irish girl names Caitlin and Tara have been trending downward in the US in recent years, though we're starting to hear more girls named Saoirse and Niamh. Irish baby names that are top-ranked in their native land include the following.
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Top Unisex Baby Names
The top unisex baby names are widely-used these days for both girls and boys. Most unisex names lean at least slightly towards one gender or the other, though there are some names that feel unisex but are really used nearly exclusively for girls or boys: Addison and Madison are examples of popular names for girls that may have started out as boys' names and moved into the unisex category, but are now squarely on the girls' side. Names such as Wyatt and Dylan are still mostly used for boys.
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Unusual Baby Names
Unusual baby names come from a range of categories, from ethnic names to place names to word names to surnames used as first names. The best unusual names are distinctive without being strange, seem unique yet are also easy to understand. Of the thousands of unusual baby names on Nameberry, here are some of our favorites.
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Urban Prairie Names
Urban Prairie is the hottest new style on the fashion runways, and one that translates perfectly to baby names. These names are a little bit city and a little bit country, sophisticated yet artless, traditional yet edgy, so far out they're very very in.
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Vintage Baby Names
Vintage baby names are among the most fashionable today, for girls as well as boys. Along with vintage names such as Olivia and Emma, Noah and Elijah leading the popularity list, the US Top 100 includes such vintage names for girls as Alice, Grace, and Penelope, and vintage boy names Henry, Julian, and Wyatt.
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Yupster Baby Names for Boys
Yupsters -- a blend of yuppies and hipsters -- prefer baby names that are to the left of the most popular list but far to the right of most choices on this site. The Yupster Baby Names are classic as well as cool, embodying style along with history. The only problem is that you may hear them far more than you want to in the years to come.
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Yupster Baby Names for Girls
Yupsters -- a blend of yuppies and hipsters -- prefer baby names that are to the left of the most popular list but far to the right of most choices on this site. The Yupster Baby Names are classic as well as cool, embodying style along with history. The only problem is that you may hear them far more than you want to in the years to come.