Here is my annual analysis of the SSA name data! I’ve been doing this since the 2019 data came out, but I still haven’t found a great way to organize it, so I’m sorry if this is long and dense!
*Note: All data is based on the top 1000 only. The percentages have total births (including beyond the top 1000) as the denominator but the numerator only includes names within the top 1000, so realistically most percentages would be slightly higher if names outside the top 1000 were taken into account.
In 2023, 7.23% of boys received names in the top 10, as did 6.54% of girls. Interestingly, this percentage has decreased for both sexes every year I’ve calculated it, but this year it actually rose for boys!
For girls, 6.12% received names ending in the -ley sound, and 2.84% received names ending in the -lyn sound (this includes names like [name_f]Madeline[/name_f], that could be pronounced -lyn or -line). These percentages have been steadily decreasing each year since I first calculated them 2020, suggesting this trend is past its peak.
While -ley sounds specifically are decreasing, the percentage of girls receiving a name ending in an “ee” sound has increased slightly, to 16.37%. Knowing how many nicknames also end in “ee” sounds, a higher percentage of kids on the average playground or classroom probably go by “ee” ending names.
For boys, -s endings are still growing in popularity. 6.60% of boys received names ending in the letter S, and the percentage rises to 8.66% if you include names that end in an ‘s’ sound but different letters, like [name_m]Chase[/name_m] or [name_m]Jace[/name_m]. This is higher than last year, which in turn was higher than in 2020.
5.06% of boys received names ending in L. This increases to 5.24% with names like [name_m]Cole[/name_m] and [name_m]Kyle[/name_m] included.
The -den, -ton, and -son names also remain trendy for boys, at 2.84%, 2.30%, and 4.07%, respectively. (This includes creative spellings like [name_m]Jaxon[/name_m] and Landyn). However, these percentages all decreased from last year.
-N ending boys names are getting less popular overall. 22.04% of boys received names ending in the letter N, with the number rising to 22.43% when you names like [name_m]Dane[/name_m] that end in the N sound but a different letter. Back in 2019, that number was over a quarter of boys at 25.38%, and it has decreased each year since.
Despite it feeling like a common ending to me, only 2.71% of boys received names ending in T.
Finally, -er ending names are also decreasing in overall usage, despite occupational surnames feeling fresh. This year 6.64% of boys received these names. Meanwhile, only 2.09% of girls received -er ending names, which was also lower than last year. Both of these percentages include other spellings of -er names, like [name_f]Skylar[/name_f].
For vowel endings…
(
means it’s a higher percentage than last year, 
lower, and 
the same)
Girls
29.23% of girls received names ending in ‘a’ (including -ah endings) (but only down by 0.01% 
)
12.34% of girls received names ending in ‘e’
2.54% of girls received names ending in ‘i’
0.74% of girls received names ending in ‘o’ (including names like [name_f]Willow[/name_f], [name_f]Margot[/name_f], etc)
0.02% of girls received names ending in ‘u’
7.85% of girls received names ending in ‘y’
Boys
5.16% of boys received names ending in ‘a’ (including -ah endings)
4.90% of boys received names ending in ‘e’
2.21% of boys received names ending in ‘i’
5.98% of boys received names ending in ‘o’
0.28% of boys received names ending in ‘u’
3.36% of boys received names ending in ‘y’
It’s interesting to me that most vowel endings for boys got more popular while most vowel endings for girls decreased!
As far as internal letters, L was a big letter this year for both sexes, with 36.50% of girls and 25.19% of boys receiving names containing the letter L.
The letter X, which feels cool and current to me, was actually only present in the names given to 2.92% of boys and 0.52% of girls. Both of these percentages are lower than last year.
The most common initials in the top 1000 were:
— Girls: A (171 names), M (101 names), and L (77 names)
— Boys: A (106 names), J (91 names), and C & K (tied at 77 names)
As far as word names, 9.49% of girls and 8.24% of boys received exact [name_f]English[/name_f] word names. I only included names that originated as words then became names, so this does not include names that are only coincidentally words (like [name_m]Will[/name_m] or Drew).
If you include creative spellings like [name_f]Harmoni[/name_f] and [name_f]Sevyn[/name_f], these percentages increase to 11.26% for girls and 9.58% for boys. These increased from last year, although they decreased from 2021 to 2022, so overall word names aren’t showing as much of an increase as I would have guessed.
As far as unisex names go, there are 82 names in both the masculine and feminine top 1000. This is two fewer names compared to 2022.
The names on both lists
[name_f]Alexis[/name_f], [name_m]Amari[/name_m], [name_m]Amiri[/name_m], [name_m]Angel[/name_m], [name_m]Ari[/name_m], [name_f]Ariel[/name_f], [name_f]Armani[/name_f], [name_m]August[/name_m], [name_f]Avery[/name_f], [name_m]Azariah[/name_m], [name_m]Baylor[/name_m], [name_m]Bellamy[/name_m], [name_m]Blake[/name_m], [name_f]Briar[/name_f], [name_m]Cameron[/name_m], [name_m]Carter[/name_m], [name_m]Chandler[/name_m], [name_m]Charlie[/name_m], [name_f]Dakota[/name_f], [name_m]Dallas[/name_m], [name_m]Denver[/name_m], [name_m]Drew[/name_m], [name_m]Dylan[/name_m], [name_f]Eden[/name_f], [name_m]Elliot[/name_m], [name_m]Elliott[/name_m], [name_m]Ellis[/name_m], [name_m]Emerson[/name_m], [name_f]Emery[/name_f], [name_m]Emory[/name_m], [name_m]Ezra[/name_m], [name_m]Finley[/name_m], [name_m]Hayden[/name_m], [name_m]Hunter[/name_m], [name_m]Jamie[/name_m], [name_m]Jordan[/name_m], [name_m]Kai[/name_m], [name_m]Kamari[/name_m], [name_f]Karsyn[/name_f], [name_m]Karter[/name_m], [name_m]Layne[/name_m], [name_m]Legacy[/name_m], [name_f]Leighton[/name_f], [name_f]Lennon[/name_f], [name_m]Lennox[/name_m], [name_m]Logan[/name_m], [name_m]Milan[/name_m], [name_m]Miller[/name_m], [name_f]Morgan[/name_f], [name_m]Murphy[/name_m], [name_m]Noah[/name_m], [name_f]Nova[/name_f], [name_m]Oakley[/name_m], [name_m]Ocean[/name_m], [name_f]Palmer[/name_f], [name_m]Parker[/name_m], [name_f]Peyton[/name_f], [name_m]Phoenix[/name_m], [name_m]Quincy[/name_m], [name_f]Quinn[/name_f], [name_f]Reese[/name_f], [name_f]Reign[/name_f], [name_f]Remi[/name_f], [name_m]Remington[/name_m], [name_m]Remy[/name_m], [name_f]Riley[/name_f], [name_m]River[/name_m], [name_m]Robin[/name_m], [name_m]Rory[/name_m], [name_m]Rowan[/name_m], [name_m]Ryan[/name_m], [name_f]Sage[/name_f], [name_m]Salem[/name_m], [name_m]Sawyer[/name_m], [name_f]Sevyn[/name_f], [name_f]Shiloh[/name_f], [name_f]Skyler[/name_f], [name_f]Sutton[/name_f], [name_f]Tatum[/name_f], [name_f]Taylor[/name_f], [name_m]Tru[/name_m], [name_f]Wren[/name_f]
Overall, I think my biggest takeaway every year is how many things that seem trendy go to such a small percentage of babies! What did you find most interesting in this year’s data? Anything surprising?
