The Craziest Trends from the Most Popular Baby Names of 2017
The headline news from this morning’s popular baby names of 2017 announcement from the Social Security Administration is Liam’s rise to Number 1 and the ascendance of Amelia and Evelyn and Oliver and Logan to the top 10.
But Nameberry looked deeper and came up with these top 12 takeaways for expectant parents and name mavens.
1. Michael fell from the top 10 boys’ names for the first time in 75 years. This longtime number-one name for boys first entered the Top 10 in 1943.
2. Boys’ names are getting more fashionable, with more volatility up and down the list and more new name entries relative to girls’ names. In sheer numbers, there were 49 more boys’ names on the extended list of baby names in use than there were last year and 448 fewer girls’ names.
3. Melania is the fifth hottest girls’ name, up to Number 720, and Ivanka is up 48 percent, ranking just outside the top 1000. Other Trump-influenced names rising: Mattis, the surname of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, up 77 percent, along with Theodore, the name of Ivanka and Jared’s youngest son.
4. L is the hottest first letter for boys’ names, with the ascendance of Liam to Number 1, Logan into the top 10, and Lincoln, Legend, and Leon rising fast.
5. For girls, names ending in -la or the la sound are hot, with Ella, Isla, Mila, Layla, Bella, Isabella, Camila, and Delilah all rising sharply.
6. Names that start with the k sound, via the first initial K or C, are up dramatically, especially for boys. Among the top 10 fastest-rising boys’ names are Kairo, Kace, Kashton, and Koa. Boy’s names starting with the cas sound — Cassian, Casper, Caspian — are all up sharply.
7. The names of all the One Direction members rose, with Zayn the hottest, rising 33 percent, followed by Niall, Liam, Louis, and Harry.
8. The hottest Kardashian baby name in 2017 was Dream, the name of Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna’s little girl, the third fastest-rising girls’ name moving into the Top 1000.
9. Space names for girls are heading for the stars. Luna is the biggest riser in the Top 100, increasing 46 percent. Nova is up 33 percent to enter the Top 100, Lyra is up 33 percent to Number 728, Aurora is up 15 percent, Celeste is up 13 percent, and Star is up 27 percent.
10. In percentage terms, the biggest risers were the newly invented Westlynn and Westlyn for girls, up 660 percent and 350 percent. For boys, it’s Oseias, a spin on the ancient Greek Osias or the biblical Hosea, up more than 1000 percent, and place-name Maui, up 720 percent.
11. Parents seem to be just getting warmed up in inventing new names. Ensley is the fastest-rising girls’ name, and Enzley one of the biggest percentage risers. Other fast risers that are invented names or creative adaptations include Brezlyn, Kaari, Whisper, and Mazikeen for girls, and for boys, Dak, Rhyatt, Miliano, Jaxtyn, and Joriel.
12. Craziest hot new spelling: Jru, pronounced like Drew, given to nearly 100 babies and doubling in use for both genders.
This post was previously published on Nameberry by Pamela Redmon Satran.
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(Photo via Getty)
