Having glanced over the new SSA list, I admit it was with some horror that I realized my favorite girl’s name, [name]Cora[/name], jumped from #276 to #204 in one year! Noo! I’m still in love, but curses all the same…
Doing some more digging (mostly through girls names right now), it’s fascinating what has jumped up really quickly and what seems to have slipped. Sure there are plenty of the trendy spellings complicating and clotting up the list. But here were some surprises to me.
[name]Vera[/name] jumped from #673 to #512.
Probably thanks to the famous chanteuse, [name]Adele[/name] catapulted 282 slots to be #627.
[name]Adelaide[/name] has risen from #568 to #407 between 2009 and 2011.
[name]Sloane[/name], [name]Willow[/name], and [name]Eloise[/name] each jumped 80 slots this year to rank at #511, #202, and #449 respectively (and note: [name]Eloise[/name] was only at #913 in 2009!!).
Following the other plant names, [name]Dahlia[/name] moved up over 100 points to be #538 and [name]Rosemary[/name] up 60 places to take #654.
[name]Felicity[/name] zoomed 99 places up the list to #666.
I only just noticed that [name]Annabelle[/name] is about to brush the top 100, but if you add in all the other spellings (the SSA lists [name]Annabelle[/name], [name]Annabel[/name], [name]Anabel[/name], [name]Anabelle[/name], [name]Annabell[/name] plus [name]Anabella[/name] and [name]Annabella[/name]) then it’s definitely much higher than that.
[name]Maeve[/name], a NB fave, has actually dropped back down to its 2009 rank (from #535 to #590).
Curiously (to me anyway), the spelling [name]Lyla[/name] is significantly higher in rank than [name]Lila[/name].
I mean, I guess I’m not shocked–I knew these names were rising, but those are big jumps! Anyone else seen anything that caught them by surprise, too?
I was surprised to see [name]Geraldine[/name] re-enter the top 1000 for the first time since 1990 (even then it only ranked for 3 years, from '88 to '90–it essentially dropped off the list in the 70s). [name]Amos[/name] and [name]Harvey[/name] are also back. Could this be the start of a revival? I hope so. I think all three are cute in a clunky way.
[name]Mason[/name] being #2 for boys. The name’s just not very popular in my area (haven’t run into any babies or small children with it), so I was surprised to see that it’s ranked #2 nationally.
[name]Juniper[/name] and [name]Temperance[/name] being in the Top 1000. While I love both names ([name]Temperance[/name] is one of our top names for a girl), I didn’t ever think that they’d crack the Top 1000.
Disappointed about:
[name]Bentley[/name] being in the Top 1000…for girls. Ugh.
[name]Happy[/name] about:
[name]Rowan[/name] dropping in ranking for girls. This is our top boy’s name and I was worried it was going to be taken over by the girls, but it’s been steadily declining for girls over the past four years (while steadily climbing for boys), so I think we’re safe.
My current favorite girl’s name- [name]Aria[/name], jumped from #353 in 2010 to #157 in 2012. VERY disappointed about that! I love the name so much I will still probably use it, unless it hits top 25.
I was pretty excited to see [name]Juniper[/name] and [name]Hattie[/name] enter the Top 1000. And I was pleasantly surprised to see [name]Avery[/name] jump a few spots to 201 for boys and was pleased to see both [name]Elliot[/name] and [name]Elliott[/name] rise for boys. Also suprised to see my dad’s name, [name]Harvey[/name], as 862.
I knew [name]Elliot[/name]/[name]Elliott[/name] was going to jump. I’ve been seeing it on so many lists lately, and I already know of one. It was interesting that [name]Elliot[/name] jumped a bit more than [name]Elliott[/name]. They were only a few spots apart in 2010. Now the gap seems to be getting bigger. I still like [name]Elliott[/name] more
I also knew [name]Aria[/name] was going to jump. It has a similar feel to a lot of popular names. Oh, and [name]Declan[/name]. That’s been popping up on EVERYONE’S list but mine, haha.
According to the SSA, the biggest jumpers in the top 500 were [name]Brantley[/name] (boy - jumped 416 slots to #320) and [name]Briella[/name] (girl - jumped 394 spots to #497). I wasn’t surprised at all with [name]Briella[/name] jumping so much, but [name]Brantley[/name] shocked me. TBH I think it’s an ugly name (sorry). Some other big jumpers were:
Boys
[name]Iker[/name] (267 spots to #379)
[name]Maximiliano[/name] (173 spots to #289)
[name]Zaiden[/name] (blech. 131 spots to #489)
[name]Kamden[/name] (why the K?! 109 spots to #448).
Girls:
[name]Angelique[/name] (247 spots to #380).
[name]Aria[/name] (196 spots to #157)
[name]Mila[/name] (190 spots to #174)
[name]Elsie[/name] (165 spots to #480)
As for the fallers, I was a little surprised. I noticed a lot of [name]Braden[/name] variations dropping (and similar names - some of the biggest droppers include [name]Jaydon[/name], [name]Brenden[/name], [name]Braiden[/name], [name]Braeden[/name], [name]Brayan[/name] and of course [name]Braden[/name]). I wasn’t totally surprised at the girl fallers. A lot of them have famous connections ([name]Miley[/name], [name]Kimora[/name], [name]Kendra[/name], etc). [name]Jayden[/name] dropped a lot for girls, 80 spots to #292. Yay! I also noticed the alternative spellings of [name]Madison[/name] are falling.
A lot of my favorite names have gone up. Not too much at the moment (for most, [name]Elliot[/name]/[name]Elliott[/name] will definitely keep climbing before I have a baby). But I’m more interested to see what my state’s list is like. We tend to steer away from the trendy names ([name]Jayden[/name] and [name]Nevaeh[/name] are way further down the list compared to the national list) and seem to be a little ahead of the trends sometimes. For example, I believe our #1 boy name last year was [name]Mason[/name], and now it’s #2 nationally. I want to see if my favorite names are getting popular here because this is most likely where my kids will grow up, so their name popularity in MN is a little more important than nationally. I’m just hoping my favorite names stay out of the top 20 or so!
Oi. Our [name]Felicity[/name] is due this [name]July[/name] so her name was the first I looked up. 99 spaces in one year. Ridiculous. Especially after it was declining relatively steadily.
Has anyone happened to see [name]Louisa[/name] in the top 1000? I glanced through the list and didn’t see it - but I’m a little surprised. It’s my favorite name and I’d love to know where it ranks.
I did not see [name]Iker[/name] making that jump! I feel really proud about it for some strange reason, but I am CRINGING because during international football tournaments, American and Canadian and British announcers don’t pronounce [name]Iker[/name] correctly so the idea that there probably are so many little "eye-kurr"s running around just… ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I love that [name]Elsie[/name] and [name]June[/name] were used more this past year. Adorable names!
Nothing really stood out to me for the boys, apart from [name]Iker[/name]… [name]Maximiliano[/name] is pretty unexpected to be that big of a jumper, and wth is [name]Brantley[/name]?
My brother’s name is the biggest dropper, lol.
Well, I know how I’m spending the rest of my night, haha.
I was also pleased to see that [name]Hezekiah[/name] jumped 48 places from 925 to 877. It’s not actually listed on the link with changes in popularity, though.
You might be happy to hear that [name]Louisa[/name] still isn’t in the Top 1000 (which I find really surprising, actually!). Neither is [name]Louise[/name] or [name]Luisa[/name].
I do not see [name]Louisa[/name] in the top 1000. Not sure if you tried this but if not, I go to the top 1000 list, hit ctrl+f, and search for the name. Sometimes you have to hit the next or previous buttons because it will go to say, [name]Ariana[/name] instead of [name]Ian[/name], since “ian” is in the name [name]Ariana[/name]. Again, not sure if you tried that but if so, there’s a little hint for everyone else!
@conley - The name [name]Louisa[/name] hasn’t been in the top 1,000 since 1969 when it was at No# 956. The spelling [name]Luisa[/name] was No# 998 in 2006.
Me, too! I’m so happy about [name]Avery[/name]. It’s one of the few unisex names that I think is truly usable for boys still, despite its huge popularity for girls.
I didn’t really notice [name]Elliot[/name] for boys (although I did notice it’s doing pretty well!), but [name]Elliot[/name] is now listed for the girls! I was so disappointed, haha. I think it was in the 700s, too, so a fairly big leap! [name]Esme[/name] and [name]Flynn[/name] are also listed, which, I believe they were unlisted before.
I was pretty shocked that [name]Evelyn[/name] (especially [name]Evelyn[/name]!) and [name]Charlotte[/name] are now in the top 30, too. I knew they would rise, but I didn’t think they’d rise that fast. And I didn’t really think [name]Mason[/name] would be number 2–not yet! I figured it might be number 8 or 9, but not number 2…
I was disappointed by [name]Violet[/name], too… I knew it would jump since it’s so well-loved, but 101? That makes me sad.
I am thrilled with [name]Isabelle[/name], though, that dropped 9 spots. It seems to be dropping bit by bit, from 100 to 105 and now down to 114. It would be lovely if it was down to about 150 by the time I’m ready to use it!
It’s in the lower 800s for girls. If it makes you feel any better, there were more girls named [name]Princess[/name] in 2011 than there were girls named [name]Elliot[/name], lol. On the other hand, there were almost 10x as many boys born named [name]Elliot[/name] and [name]Elliott[/name]. It is such a widely recognized boys name that I don’t think we have anything to worry about. It’s still my top choice for a boy! And I’m thinking that [name]Avery[/name] might enter the list as a middle.
Yeah, I feel your pain on [name]Violet[/name]. [name]Sophie[/name] is one of my top girls names, and with the popularity of [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Sofia[/name], and [name]Sophie[/name]… both [name]Violet[/name] and [name]Sophie[/name] are still on my list, though.
Thank you for the responses regarding the name [name]Louisa[/name]. I am thrilled it’s not in the top 1000. It’s always been my favorite but when I mentioned it to my mother once - a long time ago - she said: 'don’t even think about it - everyone will call her “Weezy.” Which, to this day, I maintain is ridiculous! Thanks all!
I’m kinda of crushed to see that [name]Charlotte[/name] moved from 46 to 27
46 I was sort of ok with but now…
I still [name]LOVE[/name] it, and I’m hoping it’ll fall a bit if I have a 2nd girl.
It’s one of the few unisex names that I think is truly usable for boys still, despite its huge popularity for girls.
That makes me sad.