My current favorite [name_f]Colette[/name_f] went from #469 to #531. I feel glad it’s out of the top 500, because I was worried it was going to keep going up. For some reason it spiked in 2016, but I like the popularity where it is, and I hope it stays around that level.
What about you guys?
Maeve went from #406 to #360, which is a significant jump but not something that worries me. I’ve actually gotten pretty neutral feedback for it in real life recently, which sounds weird but I actually like that, since I don’t have to worry about someone close to me using it. Juno is still not in the top 1000. Rowan jumped from #239 to #212, so nothing significant, but it did make a larger jump for boys, which surprised me. I’ve never heard of a male Rowan in the USA. Parker went from #217 to #206, and actually fell for boys, which made me happy. To round out my top 5, Iris went from #186 to #149, which is starting to get scarily close to the top 100 for me.
Overall I was upset to see that almost all of my favorites made significant gains. One nice note is that none of my outside the top 1000 names cracked the top 1000.
I like a lot of names so just a few highlights -
[name_u]Shelby[/name_u] dropped from 339 to 372
[name_f]Jolene[/name_f] rose from 571 to 456
[name_u]Holland[/name_u] dropped from 876 to 953
[name_f]Dorothy[/name_f] rose from 648 to 601
[name_f]Cadence[/name_f] dropped from 377 to 421
Bexley rose from 971 to 925
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] dropped from 241 to 267
All and all I feel pretty good. A lot my favorites either went down or went down only a little or weren’t overly popular and are still sitting at a place I’m happy with.
[name_f]Alessia[/name_f]'s gone up something like 350 places in the last two years in the US, (from 823ish to 473) but popularity doesn’t really bother me, also I know it’s much less popular in Australia.
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] hasn’t been even close to the top 500 for at least 100 years so I’m not concerned about it being [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] 2.0 at all, it’s currently just under the top 1000. Again, I know it’s even less popular in Australia.
[name_f]Catalina[/name_f] went up about 110 places to 155 this year, it’s been rising in popularity quite a bit and seems it’ll possibly crack the top 100 this year.
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] took a tumble from 241 in 2016 to 353 this year, but in my community it’s highly likely [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] will be used so I’ve already come to terms with my hypothetical [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] knowing another [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f].
Nefertari technically rose 5561 places but it’s in the 4000’s and hasn’t been used at all this year. I’m more worried about Nefertari being too unique than not special enough.
Two of my favorites [name_f]Ramona[/name_f] and [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] are in the 890s, which is a bump about 50 places up from last year. I am happy there are more babies named [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] and [name_f]Ramona[/name_f]!
[name_m]Vicente[/name_m] dropped about 40 places, so my likelihood of meeting someone with this name is decreasing…
None of my favorites seem to be in immediate danger of overuse, except perhaps [name_f]Eliza[/name_f].
[name_f]Edith[/name_f] went from 486 to 476.
[name_f]Claudia[/name_f] dropped from 763 to 829.
[name_f]Mae[/name_f] dropped from 582 to 654.
[name_f]Eliza[/name_f] rose from 174 to 140.
Gwendolyn rose from 401 to 379.
Louisa rose from 827 to 752.
While these names are not among my personal top favorites, I was unsurprised to see that [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], Olive, Camila, Mila, Penelope, Margot, and [name_f]Vera[/name_f] continued to rise.
[name_f]Sarai[/name_f] went from 484 to 438 which is interesting, since in the UK, in 2016, it’s place was 2120 so I’m not too worried about any change in popularity
[name_f]Romilly[/name_f] apparently isn’t in the top 1000, again, interesting because it’s 916 in the UK
Neither [name_f]Ilaria[/name_f] or [name_f]Ginevra[/name_f] have ever placed, so I looked up some of the more popular names I like
[name_f]Amelie[/name_f] - 658 to 685
[name_f]Matilda[/name_f] - 495 to 521
[name_f]Florence[/name_f] - 980 to not ranked (but number 20 in the uk!)
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f] - 356 to 347
It’s actually pretty interesting to see how differently popular names are in the US and UK
[name_f]Ada[/name_f] was 346 in 2016 and it climbed slightly to 321 in 2017. Overall, I was surprised to see it rise in rank, almost steadily, over the years. I hope it doesn’t get too much more popular going forward.
[name_f]Lilah[/name_f] was ranked 299 in 2016 and it went to 272 in 2017. So that one climbed a bit, too.
As long as the names I like don’t go to the Top 10 in my state/area, I’m good lol
[name_f]Octavia[/name_f] skyrocketed into the top 600 even though she’s been well out of the top 1000 for two decades. I’m surprised and a little bummed…
[name_f]Veronica[/name_f] made modest gains, as expected.
[name_m]Gerard[/name_m] and [name_m]Benedict[/name_m] still don’t rank. (Honestly a little surprised [name_m]Benedict[/name_m] didn’t crack into the list…)
Overall, I can live with it.
I just noticed that [name_f]Maren[/name_f] went from 938 to 633. Wow!
[name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] is still outside the top 1000.
[name_f]Lydia[/name_f] dropped from 80 to 85.
Overall no huge changes in the names I can realistically imagine using.
[name_f]Paola[/name_f] 843 to 821, but still overall trending downward
[name_f]Liana[/name_f] 465 to 498, trending up but definitely not skyrocketing
[name_f]Esperanza[/name_f] 999 to 967, never very popular
[name_f]Dahlia[/name_f] 390 to 393, slowly trending up
Talita has never hit the top 1000 in the U.S.
[name_m]Maceo[/name_m] never hit the top 1000
[name_m]Cosimo[/name_m] never hit the top 1000
[name_m]Orlan[/name_m] never hit the top 1000
[name_m]Leandro[/name_m] 689 to 718, no big jumps
All in all no big worries. Numerically I don’t think any of our favorite names were given to even close to 1000 babies, meaning they are quite rare overall.
My one concern comes with [name_m]Maceo[/name_m]. [name_m]Maceo[/name_m] is a less common Spanish-language version of [name_m]Matthew[/name_m], and a very close cousin to uber-popular [name_m]Mateo[/name_m]. I don’t expect [name_m]Maceo[/name_m] itself to rise terribly much, because it really is VERY rare even among Spanish-speakers, but I know that [name_m]Maceo[/name_m] will be mistaken for [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] a LOT. And [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] is a great name, so I am trying not to mind, and even to tell myself that the popularity of [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] may make [name_m]Maceo[/name_m] more easily pronounced, but it still does bug me a little.
I also take the national statistics with a grain of salt, because since many of our names are very tied to Spanish, they are much more common in particular communities. So even though [name_f]Paola[/name_f] is very uncommon nationally, by the time we have kids we may well be living in the town my SO grew up in, where about a third (and growing) of the population is Latino, and easily 2/3rd of the school district is. Therefore, since [name_f]Paola[/name_f] is a relatively popular name among Latinos (close to the top 50 in Mexico, I think I have seen), she may well encounter a few other Paolas anyways.
My all time favorite name is [name_f]Clara[/name_f], and I’m honestly super disappointed by how popular it’s become in the last decade. It went from 99 to 96 this year so it’s still raising in popularity, and I’ll be so sad if it’s considered outdated when I have a baby in 5-10 years, as it was my great-grandmother’s name and I have always intended on naming my first daughter [name_f]Clara[/name_f]. So yeah that’s a bummer.
Other favorites are:
[name_f]Madeline[/name_f]: fell from 89 to 100
[name_f]Liberty[/name_f]: fell from 541 to 568
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f]: constant at 145
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m]: up from 12 to 9
[name_m]Holden[/name_m]: up from 270 to 242
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m]: constant at 48
Overall, the names I like have always been popular and likely will be popular for the foreseeable future (minus [name_f]Liberty[/name_f] which is more of a guilty please for me), but I wish some of them weren’t as mega popular as they are right now.
My favorite names, [name_u]Zephyr[/name_u] and [name_m]Tiger[/name_m], both didn’t make the top 1000
Unfortunately, they almost all went up.
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f]: 112 to 108
[name_f]Ramona[/name_f]: 949 to 893 (this doesn’t actually bother me too much, since I don’t think [name_f]Ramona[/name_f] will ever achieve [name_u]Juniper[/name_u]-levels of trendiness)
[name_f]Delilah[/name_f]: 115 to 102 (this is our top name for a girl, too…hopefully it’ll drop by the time we’re ready for kids?)
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]: 41 to 35 (not surprising)
[name_u]Juniper[/name_u]: 350 to 314 (I love this name, but it really is the [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] of its generation)
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]: 186 to 149
[name_u]Eloise[/name_u]: 208 to 190
[name_f]Paloma[/name_f]: 945 to 892
[name_f]Naomi[/name_f]: 74 to 69
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f]: 356 to 347
[name_f]Octavia[/name_f]'s dramatic entrance was also a little concerning, but a bit of a relief as well – I would happily use this name, but I wouldn’t want it to be either trendy or completely unheard-of.
[name_m]Jack[/name_m]: 38 to 35, plus [name_m]Jackson[/name_m], [name_m]Jaxon[/name_m], AND [name_m]Jaxson[/name_m] are all in the top 100 (and Jaxx and Jaxxon are in the top 1000)
[name_m]Calvin[/name_m]: 149 to 145
[name_m]Judah[/name_m]: 233 to 207
[name_m]Adrian[/name_m]: 60 to 58
[name_m]Rafael[/name_m]: 291 to 282
[name_m]Harvey[/name_m]: 412 to 382 (though I wonder if the [name_m]Harvey[/name_m] Weinstein scandal has put other people off the name, as it has with me)
[name_m]Julian[/name_m]: 39 to 36
[name_m]Simon[/name_m] fell (243 to 263), [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] fell, [name_f]Lydia[/name_f] fell (80 to 85), [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] fell (959 to 993), [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] fell (241 to 353), and [name_f]Margo[/name_f] fell (953 to 992). [name_m]Dashiell[/name_m], [name_u]Roscoe[/name_u], [name_u]Adair[/name_u], [name_f]Saskia[/name_f], and [name_u]Vesper[/name_u] haven’t charted. Neither have [name_f]Zadie[/name_f] or [name_f]Marlo[/name_f], though [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] is in the top 50 and will probably rise and [name_u]Marlowe[/name_u] hit the list for girls this year. [name_m]Teo[/name_m] isn’t on the list, but [name_m]Mateo[/name_m] is just outside the top 10.
I was a bit disappointed, as it made me recall how much I don’t want my babes to have overly-popular names, but overall I think I can manage with the popularity of my very favorites.
[name_f]Greta[/name_f] doesn’t seem to have caught on yet (633 to 632) unless a lot of people are using it as a nickname for [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] (139 to 132). [name_u]Toby[/name_u] actually went down (768 to 812).
Getting popular:
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] (41 to 35)
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m] (85 to 69)
[name_f]Naomi[/name_f] (74 to 69)
[name_m]Milo[/name_m] (248 to 224)
[name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] fell from 959 to 993. [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] rose to 418 from 430.
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Seraphine[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
Esmée does not rank in the top 1,000 but [name_f]Esme[/name_f] rose to 585 from 681
[name_f]Odette[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Elowen[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Evelina[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Annelise[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_f]Iris[/name_f] rose from 186 to 149
[name_f]Amalia[/name_f] jumped from 782 to 613
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] fell from 674 to 677
[name_f]Rosaline[/name_f] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_m]Emilien[/name_m] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m] rose from 272 to 244
[name_m]Emile[/name_m] does not rank in the top 1,000 (either does [name_m]Emil[/name_m])
[name_u]Remy[/name_u] rose from 471 to 449
[name_m]Mattias[/name_m] does not rank in the 1,000 ([name_m]Mathias[/name_m] = 459, [name_m]Matias[/name_m] = 236, & [name_m]Matthias[/name_m] = 462)
[name_u]River[/name_u] went up from 212 to 201
[name_m]Caspian[/name_m] leaped onto the charts at 868
[name_m]Nicolas[/name_m] fell from 194 to 205
[name_m]Henry[/name_m] rose from 22 to 18
[name_u]Sacha[/name_u] does not rank in the top 1,000
[name_m]Raphael[/name_m] rose from 534 to 519 ([name_m]Rafael[/name_m] ranks at 282)
[name_m]Forest[/name_m] does not rank in the top 1,000
All in all I’m pretty happy where my favorite names are. [name_m]Henry[/name_m] is the only one in the top 100 (20) & it does not worry me because in all honesty I never really planned on using [name_m]Henry[/name_m], I just like it a lot ATM.
Esmée I will probably never use either. I’ve known for a long time that everyone in the US is using the male version ([name_f]Esme[/name_f]). I’ve also known [name_f]Iris[/name_f] is getting more trendy but it doesn’t really bother me because I really prefer her as a middle name nowadays.
I will be watching some of my favorites to see if they will continue to rise.
We’re pretty sure we’re done with having kids, so this is just intellectual curiosity. (And we’ve never cared much about popularity anyway.)
Our second son was born last year, so I was particularly interested in his names. [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] had a small drop from 11th to 13th. His middle name [name_m]Leopold[/name_m] isn’t in the top 1000, but there was a rise in use from 91 to 105 babies. His main nickname, [name_m]Axel[/name_m], rose from 116th to 105th. Wouldn’t be surprised at all if it made the Top 100 this year!
[name_m]William[/name_m]'s name held steady at 3rd, but of course his nickname [name_m]Liam[/name_m] has claimed the throne of the new number one. I was pretty much expecting that; they’re both fabulous names! [name_m]Balthazar[/name_m] wasn’t in the Top 1000, but rose a little in use from 10 to 15 babies.
[name_f]Catherine[/name_f] dropped four spots, from 194th to 198th, and [name_f]Cate[/name_f] (not in the Top 1000) had one extra baby born last year, from 37 to 38. I continue to be amazed by the rapid rise of her middle name [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f]! It wasn’t even in the Top 1000 when she was born, but now it is at 416th, rising from last year’s 580th. (Her almost middle names, [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], have also made gains, especially [name_f]Octavia[/name_f]!)
And [name_f]Veronica[/name_f] had a decent rise from 410th to 378th, with her nickname [name_f]Vera[/name_f] experiencing the same, from 307th to 278th. (Interesting that [name_f]Vera[/name_f] and [name_f]Veronica[/name_f] are exactly 100 spots apart!) [name_f]Seraphine[/name_f]'s not in the Top 1000 and it had a rather noticeable dip in use, from 40 to 24 babies born last year.
As for my personal favorite names, [name_f]Zoe[/name_f] slid down from 35th to 41st and [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] dropped from 63rd to 68th.
[name_f]Helena[/name_f] - jumped from 519 to 516
[name_f]Lucia[/name_f] - jumped from 213 to 185
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f] - jumped from 66 to 51
[name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] - fell from 449 to 462
[name_f]Daphne[/name_f] - jumped from 407 to 385
[name_f]Alessandra[/name_f] - fell from 305 to 313
[name_f]Rhiannon[/name_f] - not in the top 1000
[name_f]Cynthia[/name_f] - fell from 564 to 637
[name_f]Briar[/name_f] - jumped from 799 to 718
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] - not in top 1000 in 2016 to 955
[name_f]Juliet[/name_f] - jumped from 228 to 226
[name_f]Antonia[/name_f] - not in the top 1000
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f] - jumped from 356 to 347
[name_f]Olympia[/name_f] - not in the top 1000
overall i’m happy with where my faves fall on the list. they are all still outside the top 50 which surprised me! i thought [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] would be higher as it seems to be getting quite popular. also surprised [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] made it into the top 1000.