The List of Most Popular Baby Names Is Out — & Has a Surprising New Celeb-Inspired Pick

Rita Templeton
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As self-professed baby name nerds here at SheKnows, we live for the springtime each year — because that’s when the U.S. Social Security Administration releases its newest data on the top 10 most popular baby names for boys and girls. The list doesn’t change too much from year to year, but there’s usually something that surprises us: either a name that drops out of the top 10, or one that makes its debut. And in this year’s data, there’s one new arrival!

From the last batch of data (2022) to the newest (2023), there are a few position changes on both lists. For boys, the top five names have remained the same — but in the sixth position, we have a newcomer!

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Top 10 Most Popular Baby Names for Boys (2023 data)

  1. Liam

  2. Noah

  3. Oliver

  4. James

  5. Elijah

  6. Mateo

  7. Theodore

  8. Henry

  9. Lucas

  10. William

That’s right: Mateo is making its debut in the top 10, already jumping nearly to the middle at #6 — impressive! We can’t help but speculate that its entry might be at least partially due to soccer phenoms Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who both have sons named Mateo.

William, meanwhile, moved from #6 last year down to the #10 spot. Last year’s #10, Theodore, bumped up to #7. Benjamin, which was at #9 last year, dropped off completely — while Henry and Lucas each moved down one spot, putting them at #8 and #9, respectively.

The list of popular baby names for girls stayed largely unchanged, but there are a few that have switched positions in the ranking.

Top 10 Most Popular Baby Names for Girls (2023 data)

  1. Olivia

  2. Emma

  3. Charlotte

  4. Amelia

  5. Sophia

  6. Mia

  7. Isabella

  8. Ava

  9. Evelyn

  10. Luna

Just like with the boys’ list, the girls’ top five names remained unchanged — Olivia and Emma still reign supreme. (Olivia has been at #1 consistently since 2019, and Emma has been at #2.) The #6 spot, which was held by Isabella last year, is now where Mia sits (which was ranked #8 last year). Isabella and Ava both moved down a single spot in the ranking, to #7 and #8.

Pop culture has a fascinating impact on baby names. Luna, for example, holding at #10 on the girls’ chart for the second year in a row, first entered the top 1000 (yes, that’s one thousand) most popular baby names in 2003 — which was, incidentally, the same year that J.K. Rowling introduced the character Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series. And in 2016, when John Legend and Chrissy Teigen named their daughter Luna? It jumped from #77 to #37 the very next year. So the thought that Mateo’s entry may be influenced by, well, influencers may not be much of a stretch.

Interestingly, the SSA also releases data each year about the names that are rising the quickest in popularity. The top five current fastest up-and-comers for boys are Izael, Chozen, Eiden, Cassian, and Kyren, while for girls it’s Kaeli, Alitzel, Emryn, Adhara, and Azari. Kaeli saw the single biggest rise, jumping a whopping 1,692 spots, while Alitzel was the next-closest with a rise of 1,512! (You can see the full list on the SSA’s website here.)

Are we seeing an emerging trend of names with Zs in them? Are five-letter names the next big thing? Only time will tell!

From Archie to Scout, here are a few cute baby names inspired by popularity and pep.

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