- Liam, Noah, and William are currently the most popular names in the United States.
- The Social Security Administration has also released a list of baby names, which are rapidly increasing in popularity.
- International names and names from pop culture are the biggest baby naming trends for boys.
If you look at baby names over the past few decades, the general rule of thumb was that boy names were relatively stable. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA) – which has been keeping track of these things since the late 1800s – Michael was the name of the most popular boy in the country from 1954 to 1998 (with a little blip in 1960 when David took first place for a year). It’s 44 years of Michaels! After that, it was Jacob, which lasted 13 years from 1999 to 2012. (Thank you, dusk.)
But things are changing faster now. Since Jacob, Noah took first place for only four short years before being dethroned. Liam has been the # 1 name in the past two years, but will it stay there? Or are we going to go to the next name – James or Oliver, perhaps, who arrive quickly? Here we look at the trends around current baby names for 2020, as well as the SSA’s first 100 current baby names for boys. (No boys? You can find the most popular baby names for girls, as well as unisex and gender-neutral names.)
These boy names are expected to be huge in 2020.
Since the SSA obtains a record of each newborn in the country, it has the most up-to-date information on the popularity of names. The agency generally posts its list of the most popular names from the previous year around Mother’s Day, but this year it delayed the announcement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her list of the most common names for boys of 2018 is below.
But in addition to the list of the most popular names, it also keeps a tab on the names that climb in the graphics. These 10 baby names may not be as common as Liam or Noah yet, but they’ve seen huge increases, and they’re headed up.
- Genesis
- Holy
- baker
- Kairo
- Watson
- Kenzo
- Jaxtyn
- Kylo
- Dakari
- Karsyn
Kylo is on the rise, may Ren to be far behind? Now, Ren is not one of the first 1000 baby names. “Wren“is gaining ground – for girls.
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It’s also worth noting that many of these fast-rising names are actually only alternative spellings, like Kairo for Cairo (currently # 518 on the global list), Jaxtyn for Jaxton (# 346) or Jackson (# 17), and Karsyn for Carson (# 70).
International names are a big hit.
In addition to SSA, the baby naming site Nameberry keeps track of interest in different baby names among its users. When he compiled his list of the most popular boy names for 2020, these reached the top: Milo, Asher, Atticus, Oliver, Levi, Silas, Arlo, Leo, Theodore, and Jasper. In addition, the list of the “hottest” names on the site – those with the largest increase in searches – included Enzo, Phoenix, Lucius, Kai, Hugo, Ezekiel, Caleb, and European mountain ash.
If you look at the list, it perfectly matches the tendency to take names borrowed from other countries. And it’s not a single country either: people choose Italian / Spanish names like Luca and Mateo, Hebrew names like Asher or Ezekielor a Hawaiian name like Kai. Scandinavian names, in particular, are gaining ground, with names like Soren (also a The iron Throne Last name), Axel, Leif, and Stellan is doing particularly well on the site. BabyCenter, which also keeps track of baby names among its users, notes that Arabic names like Muhammad are gaining ground – although it’s a Latin name, Miles, it was the fastest climber on the site last year.
Bachelor names are becoming more and more popular.
BabyCenter also noted a slight increase in searches for names associated with The single person – especially babies born to old Bachelor candidates. Brooks (born for Bachelor in paradise stars Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert) was the biggest, up 18%, but Hayes (son of The single personWhitney Bischoff) and Cruz (middle name of Zander, son of The bachelorette stars Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried) have also seen leaps in popularity.
Nicknames take over.
Call it the Baby Archie effect, but parents choose the shortened version of certain baby names rather than their longer counterparts. BabyCenter saw a big bump in popularity for nicknames Izzy (+ 36%) and Ricky (+ 25%), with Leo, Excited, Mickey, Pencil case, Ted, Franc, Theo, Joe, Ronnie, Frankie, and Rudy not far behind.
These names are not on the list yet, but they will be.
Nameberry came out with its own list of the 100 most popular searches, and six of their names were not on the SSA’s list of the 1000 most common names in the United States. This means that interest in these names is just beginning – and you can enter the ground floor before they hit the big time. They are: Friends, Cassian, Pencil case, Aurelius, Caius, and Ambrose.
BabyCenter has seen an increase in interest in Cassian, as well. That’s another Star Wars name – he is one of the main characters in Rogue one, and will soon be the star of its own Disney + series – so if you want to keep up with the names that descend from the pike, keep an eye on the galaxy far, far away. (Will “Mandalorian” or “Mando” appear?)
Another site, Names.org, which uses SSA data to predict the rise of baby names, believes that Sebastian will reach the top 10 this year. He also sees big gains for Theodore, Hudson, Ezra, Santiago, Elias, and Jack – all the names that fit into the themes of borrowing from other cultures, using nicknames as full names, or – another big trend – bringing back names of “old man”.
100 most popular names for boys (according to SSA)
The SSA reveals that these are the most popular first names for boys (as of 2018, the most recent year available).
- Liam
- Noah
- William
- James
- Oliver
- Benjamin
- Elijah
- Lucas
- Mason
- Logan
- Alexander
- Ethan
- Jacob
- Michael
- Daniel
- Henri
- Jackson
- Sebastian
- Aiden
- Matthew
- Samuel
- David
- Joseph
- Carter
- Owen
- Wyatt
- John
- Jack
- Luke
- Jayden
- Dylan
- Grayson
- Levi
- Isaac
- Gabriel
- Julian
- Mateo
- Anthony
- Jaxon
- Lincoln
- Joshua
- Christophe
- Andrew
- Theodore
- Caleb
- Ryan
- Asher
- Nathan
- Thomas
- Leo
- Isaiah
- Charles
- Josiah
- Hudson
- Christian
- hunter
- Connor
- Eli
- Ezra
- Aaron
- Land on
- Adrian
- Jonathan
- Nolan
- Jeremiah
- Easton
- Elias
- Colton
- Cameron
- Carson
- Robert
- angel
- Maverick
- Nicolas
- Dominica
- Jaxson
- Greyson
- Adam
- Ian
- Austin
- Santiago
- Jordan
- Cooper
- Brayden
- Roman
- Evan
- Ezekiel
- Xaviar
- Jose
- Jace
- Jameson
- Leonardo
- Axel
- Everett
- Kayden
- Miles
- Sawyer
- Jason
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