The biggest critic of parents’ baby name choice? Yup, that would be Grandma!
According to a 2016 survey, almost half of new parents who received negative comments about their newborn’s name said that they came from their own mom.
Whether you’re surprised or totally unsurprised by that statistic – no comment from me – it’s true that grandmothers (and grandfathers) chose their children’s names in a completely different baby naming landscape than the one that exists today.
Now, even the most popular girl and boy names are given to just 1% of babies. And super rare names – those outside the Top 1000 entirely – make up almost a third of all names in use.
Those highly unusual baby names represent increased cultural and linguistic diversity in naming, but also a proliferation of new word and place names, novel surnames as first names, and recent inventions that feel completely unfamiliar – and, in some cases, downright crazy – to today’s grandparents.
We crunched the numbers to reveal the currently popular baby names most likely to get that “His name’s what?!” reaction from Grandma.
These modern favorites were all given to over 1000 babies last year, but were entirely absent from the official US baby name records three decades ago in 1992.
Read on for the most popular girl names and popular boy names your mom (and dad) never heard of!
Everly has been one of the fastest rising girl names of the past decade, entering the Top 1000 in 2011 and climbing to #57 last year. The Everleigh spelling, now at #99, was also unheard of in 1992.
Nevaeh (“heaven” backwards) peaked at #31 in 2001 and now ranks at #95.
This super-popular group of names, which also includes Top 1000 choices Adeline, Adelyn and Addilyn, would rank in the current Top 10 if all variant spellings were combined.
But back in 1992 there were zero girls recorded with either spelling of the name, although Emerson ranked at #993 for boys.
But this version is part of a newer phenomenon: a boom in new and respelled girl names with the -ee ending that reached its apex in the 2010s. Other examples include Aubree, Hailee, Kenslee and Rylee.
In the 2010s and 2020s, any short and trendy girl name element – think Ava, Brae, Nova, Rae, Sky – is liable to receive a shiny new -lynn suffix if, as my own mom would say, it “stands still long enough”.
Oak is one of the newest fashionable name elements for both genders, and Oaklynn has leaped from zero births in 2010 to over 1800 in 2022.
It currently ranks at #218 for girls and #282 for boys, making it one of the top truly gender-neutral names of the moment. Back in 1992, however, just eight boys and no girls were recorded with the name.
At the latest count, Harlow is a Top 100 pick in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. But it didn’t appear on the extended US baby name list until 2002.
Either way, Milani has proved a modern hit, now ranking at #234. But it wasn’t recorded at all three decades ago when today’s grandparents were naming their children.
These modern favorites, all given to 1000 or more baby girls last year, registered 50 or fewer births in 1992.
Mom might have heard of these names, but they were on very few people's lists back when today's grandparents were choosing their own daughters' names.
HeartAlaniChevron - RightHeartAryaChevron - RightHeartBlakelyChevron - RightHeartEmberChevron - RightHeartEvieChevron - RightHeartFreyaChevron - RightHeartGiaChevron - RightHeartHarperChevron - RightHeartIslaChevron - RightHeartJourneyChevron - RightHeartJuniperChevron - RightHeartKaiaChevron - RightHeartKailaniChevron - RightHeartKamilaChevron - RightHeartKaylaniChevron - RightHeartKinsleyChevron - RightHeartLennonChevron - RightHeartLilahChevron - RightHeartLilithChevron - RightHeartLondynChevron - RightHeartLunaChevron - RightHeartLylaChevron - RightHeartMagnoliaChevron - RightHeartMilaChevron - RightHeartMylaChevron - RightHeartNovaChevron - RightHeartNylaChevron - RightHeartOakleyChevron - RightHeartOpheliaChevron - RightHeartPhoenixChevron - RightHeartRiverChevron - RightHeartRowanChevron - RightHeartSawyerChevron - RightHeartSaylorChevron - RightHeartSuttonChevron - RightHeartWrenChevron - RightHeartXimenaChevron - RightHeartZaraChevron - Right
In Greek myth, Atlas was a Titan condemned to hold up the heavens on his shoulders. His name has leapt up the baby name rankings over the past decade: from outside the Top 1000 in 2012 to #129 last year.
Maddox sparked a whole trend of punchy X-ending surnames for boys, including Lennox and Knox – another Jolie baby name. Both were given to just nine babies in 1992, but now rank among the Top 300 boy names in the US.
Zayden is one of the most recent risers, boosted by modern parents’ love of that spiky Z sound – especially for their sons.
Within a decade, it had started cropping up on American birth certificates, and it entered the Top 1000 in 2008, the year after Beckham started playing for LA Galaxy. It now ranks at #202, just a few spots below soundalike Beckett.
Not only does this spelling now rank at #273, but Jaxx is at #983, and Jaxon, Jaxson, Jaxxon, and Jaxton all make the Top 1000 too. All were vanishingly rare or completely unheard of thirty years ago.
As well as that dynamic O ending, Kairo benefits from the recent popularity of Kai and a whole cluster of cool boy names containing the same sound: think Kyler, Kylo, Kyrie, Kyson and Khairi.
Now also found in variant spellings including Cru, Crue, Krew and Kru, it currently sits at an all-time high of #254 and rising.
These modern favorites, all given to 1000 or more baby boys last year, registered 50 or fewer births in 1992.
HeartAceChevron - RightHeartAidenChevron - RightHeartAmariChevron - RightHeartArcherChevron - RightHeartArloChevron - RightHeartAtticusChevron - RightHeartBeckettChevron - RightHeartBodhiChevron - RightHeartCallumChevron - RightHeartCashChevron - RightHeartCaydenChevron - RightHeartCohenChevron - RightHeartColsonChevron - RightHeartDaxtonChevron - RightHeartDeclanChevron - RightHeartEnzoChevron - RightHeartFinnChevron - RightHeartGaelChevron - RightHeartHayesChevron - RightHeartJaxonChevron - RightHeartJaxsonChevron - RightHeartJaydenChevron - RightHeartJettChevron - RightHeartKaidenChevron - RightHeartKarterChevron - RightHeartKashChevron - RightHeartKaydenChevron - RightHeartKaysonChevron - RightHeartKingChevron - RightHeartKingstonChevron - RightHeartKnoxChevron - RightHeartKyrieChevron - RightHeartLennoxChevron - RightHeartLucaChevron - RightHeartLukaChevron - RightHeartMalakaiChevron - RightHeartMessiahChevron - RightHeartPhoenixChevron - RightHeartRiverChevron - RightHeartRonanChevron - RightHeartRowanChevron - RightHeartRykerChevron - RightHeartThiagoChevron - RightHeartXanderChevron - RightHeartZanderChevron - RightHeartZionChevron - Right
Emma Waterhouse joined the team in 2017, writing about everything from the top baby name trends 2023 to how not to choose the next big baby name. As Nameberry's head moderator, she also helps to keep our active forums community ticking.
Emma's articles on names and naming trends have been featured in publications including the Huffington Post, People, Today's Parent, Fatherly, and Good Housekeeping.
A linguist by background, Emma speaks several languages and lives in England's smallest county with her husband and four young children. You can reach her at [email protected].
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