The 2019 Baby Names Almanac

By Emily Larson

The Hottest Baby Name Book Packed with Trends, Lists, and Forecasts

An instant snapshot of how the world today is shaping the name you may choose for your child tomorrow, The 2019 Baby Names Almanac is jam-packed with information and trends, plus thousands of baby names with meanings to browse. Because there's nothing worse than sticking your child with a generic baby name that everyone else is using.

Here's a sneak peek at the ideas, lists, predictions, and suggestions you'll find in the 2019 edition:

• The newest trends and upcoming names to watch
• The hottest names in your state
• The cutting-edge names on the rise (and the superhot names falling fast)
• Pop culture names gaining speed
• Gender-neutral names (and the rate they're used)
• New twists on classic names
• Celeb baby names expected to soar
• The origins and meanings behind names

And much more! This comprehensive resource is perfect for the modern parent looking for baby girl names and baby boy names.

*The SSA baby names database runs two years behind, with the most recent, complete data collected from 2017

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Dec 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781492669074

Emily Larson

Sourcebooks is the country’s leading publisher of baby name books, including the #1 Baby Name book in the country, The Complete Book of Baby Names.

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Copyright © 2011, 2019 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cover and internal design © 2019 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cover design by Heather Morris/Sourcebooks Inc.

Cover images © clintscholz/Getty Images

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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.

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Ninth Edition

Contents

Introduction

Inside the Popularity Charts

What’s Hot (or Not) Today

(And What Will—and Won’t!—Be Tomorrow)

Girls’ Names

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Boys’ Names

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Introduction

So, you’ve got a baby to name.

As if preparing for the arrival of the baby isn’t enough, you’re dealing with all the pressure of figuring out what, exactly, to call the little bundle of joy. It can be stressful to find a name that will do justice to the hope you have for your child.

After all, names influence first impressions. They can trigger great—or unpleasant—nicknames. They can affect your child’s self-esteem. They can be a tangible, lasting link to a family legacy. But let’s not forget that they can be fun. And that’s what this book is all about.

Remember The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which comes out annually as a guide to each year’s trends, forecasts, and hot spots? Aimed at farmers, of course, the book provides a way to put the year into context, to navigate the shifting seasons, and to understand all the factors swirling in the atmosphere.

The 2019 Baby Names Almanac aims to be a similar lifeline for parents. With a finger on the pulse of pop culture and an ear to the ground of what’s hip, new, and relevant, this book offers you an instant, idiosyncratic snapshot of how the world today is shaping what you may want to name your child tomorrow.

Jam-packed with information and ideas, plus thousands of names to browse, this book analyzes the most recent trends and fads in baby naming, offering up forecasts and predictions. You’ll find our take on questions like these (and much more!):

•Which cutting-edge names are on the rise?

•Which popular names are on the decline?

•What influence do celebrities have on names?

–Names in music: Will your child be Alessia or Hendrix?

–Names in entertainment: Will Marvel or Storm be in your child’s kindergarten class? Or will you see more Game of Thrones–inspired kids?

–Names in current events: Will royal names like Harry and Meghan inspire outside of Kensington Palace? Or will Royalty and King rule?

•How many babies get the most popular name, anyway?

•Which letter do most girls’ names start with? How about boys’ names?

•What are the most popular gender-neutral names today—and which gender uses each name more often? (If you name your daughter Sawyer, will she find herself playing with lots of other little girls named Sawyer—or little boys instead?)

•How can you take a trend and turn it into a name you love? (How about a little Birdie of your own?)

We understand that sometimes this information on trends and popularity is hard to digest, so we’ve created some easy-to-visualize graphics. Turn to page 4, for example, to see a map of the United States showing where Emma reigns and where little Liam is king.

And what baby name book would be complete without the names? Flip to page 69 to begin browsing through more than 20,000 names, including entries for the most popular names for girls and boys as reported by the most recent, complete data set from the Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames).¹

A little bit of a mishmash and a screenshot of the world today, The 2019 Baby Names Almanac is like no other book out there. Stuffed with ideas on what’s hip and hot and how you can take a trend and turn it into a name you love, this book is your all-in-one guide to baby names now.

1Due to the Social Security Administration data collection cycle, the most complete dataset currently available is from the full 2017 calendar year.

Inside the Popularity Charts

The Top 10

Let’s start with the most popular names in the country. Ranked by the Social Security Administration (SSA), these names are released around Mother’s Day each year. (The top 10 names get the most attention, but you may also hear about the top 100. The total number of names widely reported is 1,000.) In 2017 the top 10 names were similar to—but not identical to—the top 10 for 2016. For example, Emma and Olivia remained the top two choices for girls, but Isabella replaced Sophia for the number 4 spot beneath number 3, Ava. The boys’ list was just as stable, though Liam unseated Noah to claim the top spot this year, and both Logan and Oliver (on the boys’ side) were new additions to the top 10 list. Here’s a quick comparison of 2016 and 2017:

Just How Many Emmas Are There, Anyway?

Sure, these names are popular, but what does that mean? Well, it seems that new parents are increasingly looking for off-the-beaten-path names for their little ones, and it shows. According to the SSA, the top 1,000 names represent about 73 percent of all babies born and named in the United States in 2017—a significant drop from the 77.84 percent recorded in 2000.

Names Represented on the Top 1,000 List

Although parents of either gender have always been looking beyond the top 1,000, parents of boys are more likely to pick a name in that mix—77.91 percent of boys’ names are represented on the top 1,000 list, while only 67.66 percent of girls’ names are.

Names Represented on the Top 1,000 List by Gender

Plus, although it may seem like you know a zillion people with daughters named Emma or Olivia, the most popular names are actually bestowed upon a relatively small number of babies each year. For example, in 2017 only 0.9539 percent of all male babies born in the United States (that’s 18,728 little guys total) got the most popular name, Liam. There are slightly more girls (19,738) with the most popular name, Emma, but even that’s only 1.0528 percent of all girls born. Only a fifth of the Noah total—3,907 babies—were given the 100th most popular name, Jameson. The number of babies with the number one name is dropping swiftly—back in 1999, when Jacob first hit number one, more than 35,000 boys got that name, which is over 16,000 more babies than got the top boys’ name, Liam, in 2017. And back in 1970, 4.48 percent of all male babies (a staggering 85,298 tots) were named Michael, the most popular name of that year. So if you’ve got your heart set on naming your son Noah but you’re worried that he’ll be surrounded by Noahs wherever he goes, take heart!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary has been the most popular girls’ name in the last 100 years, with 3.4 million babies given the name since 1918. For boys, James reigns, with about 4.8 million namesakes in the last century.

Babies with the Year’s Most Popular Name

What’s Popular in My State?

It’s interesting to see how some names are more popular in certain states than in others. For example, Chloe ranks 22nd nationally for girls, but in Hawaii, it’s the fifth most popular name. Likewise, Paisley ranks fourth among Mississippi’s baby girls, but only 45th in the nation. On the boys’ side, Santiago was the second most popular name in New Mexico, but falls to number 93 across the country.

The following chart lists the top five names for girls and boys for each of the 50 states, and it also shows the actual number of births for each of those names in each state.

Top Five Names by State

What Joined—and Dropped Off—the Hot 100 in 2017?

One of the easiest ways to spot name trends is to watch what joins the Hot 100 and what drops off. For the (young) ladies, several new names joined in 2017: Emilia, Everly, Isabelle, Nova, and Valentina. A number of these names are following current trends, like Emilia, after Solo: A Star Wars Story and Game of Thrones starlet Emilia Clarke, and Valentina, an ode to popular television personality and contestant on the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, which aired in 2017.

Another bunch dropped off the list: Brianna, number 15 in 2000, lost its Hot 100 spot, as did Faith, Katherine, Kylie, and Taylor. For the boys, a handful of newcomers joined the Hot 100. Ezekiel, Jameson, Kayden, Maverick, and Santiago all continued to rise, while Bentley, Brandon, Kevin, Tyler, and Zachary fell off.

New to the Hot 100

Emilia

Everly

Isabelle

Nova

Valentina

Off the Hot 100

Brianna

Faith

Katherine

Kylie

Taylor

New to the Top 1,000 This Year

These names are fresh faces in the top 1,000 list this year. Some of them have never set foot on the list before, but odds are they’ll keep moving up.

Biggest Jumper: Ensley and Wells

The rise of the girls’ name Ensley, which shot up 1,461 slots from 2,426 in 2016 to 965 in 2017, looks to be a variation of the girls’ name Ainsley, which sat at number 352 along with Ansley, 761, in 2016. This rise is most likely due to the prominent Lee trend taking over the charts with like names Paisley, Kinsley, Kinley, and Tinley all appearing in the top 1,000. Wells, on the boys’ side, has raced 504 spots from 1,419 to 915, making its first appearance on the list.

What Do the Most Popular Names Start With?

You may find it surprising, but only nine of the top 1,000 girl baby names for 2017 start with an O: Oaklee, Oakley, Oaklyn, Oaklynn, Octavia, Olive, Olivia, Opal, and Ophelia. At the same time, you probably won’t find it as surprising that the most popular letter that girls’ names start with is A (169 of the top 1,000), with M as a close second with 103 names. Among the boys’ names, 97 start with A, and J names comprise 95 of the total 1,000 names. However, not every letter is present and accounted for on both sides. In 2009, every single letter in the alphabet had at least one boy and girl name, as Unique hopped back on the chart (929) for the first time in four years. But in 2017, no U names made it on the girls’ list. (The boys, however, are covered, with Uriah, Uriel, and Ulises). And there was only one Q (Quinn) and two X (Ximena, Xiomara) names for girls this year.

Gender-Neutral Options

Lots of names are popular for both boys and girls, but they’re generally more popular for one gender than the other. Here’s a list of names that appeared on both the boys’ top 1,000 and the girls’ top 1,000, plus how they ranked in 2017 for each gender. Some interesting finds here—Charlie, once in the top 100 for boys, is now given to nearly the same number of girls as boys. Landry, relatively new to the top 1,000 for both genders, is also almost equally distributed, and Oakley is almost exactly even, ranking at 479 for boys and 474 for girls. And River is seeing a huge upward swing in recent years, shooting up from 612 in 2000 to 201 for boys and 274 for girls! We’d suggest that 2019 will be a great year for James and Arlo to hit the girls’ list.

Spelling Matters!

If you’re going to choose…

Cameron/Camryn/Kamryn: Camryn and Kamryn are the more popular choices for girls, Cameron for boys.

Skylar/Skyler: Skylar is more popular for girls, while Skyler wins for boys.

Jordan/Jordyn: Jordyn is more popular for girls, Jordan