We’ve got a whole new year of names to celebrate! The biggest news this year is the new #1 name for boys- Liam, a change from Noah in 2016. Oliver is new to the top 10, and Logan positively bounded up the charts from #18 last year to #5 this year.
The girls’ Top 10 looks very similar to last years- the 7 most popular names are the exact same as last year, with the exception of Isabella and Sophia switching places from 5 and 4 to 4 and 5, respectively. The real changes were numbers 8-10; Amelia and Evelyn knocked out Harper and Emily, and Abigail dropped from #8 to #10.
The fastest rising names for boys were Welles (currently ranked #905), Kairo (803), Caspian (868), Colson (736), and, fascinatingly, Nova (918). Nova’s rise for boys really shocked me- it ranks #95 for girls and has a traditionally feminine -a ending. I think it’s possible that parents looking for a Noah alternative may have turned to Nova. For girls, the fastest rising names were Ensley (965), Oaklynn (886), Dream (828), Oaklyn (676), and Melania (930). The inspirations for the girls’ names are mostly pretty apparent- Ensley is a Teen Mom inspired choice, Dream is Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian’s daughter’s name, and Melania is obviously the current first lady. Oaklyn(n) doesn’t have any celebrity inspiration that I know of, but it’s got a trendy sound and was previously rising. On the boy’s side, however, I’m not sure what’s behind the sudden popularity of the 5 fastest rising names. If anyone out there knows the inspiration, please leave it in the comments!
The fastest falling names are often names that were suddenly trendy the previous year, and 2017’s fastest fallers are no exception. The top 5 suddenly unpopular names were Riaan, Kylo, Kolby, Urijah, and Kamdyn for boys and Julianne, Wendy, Milania (probably because more parents are choosing the Melania spelling, making it among the fastest risers), Montserrat, and Nathaly.
Stay tuned for more analysis in the weeks to come!
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