What were the most popular baby names in the US last year, and how have they changed in popularity?

What do the names Olivia, Emma, Charlotte, Liam, and Noah have in common? They were all the top baby names for 2021.

Each year the Social Security Administration releases the list of top ten baby names for boys and girls based on their records.

What names made the biggest jump forward on the list in 2021?

For boys, the name Amrir went from 1291th in 2020 to 757th in 2021. This was the most significant increase in the number of babies with that name from the first year to the next. For girls, Raya went from 935th to 494th in 2021.

On the boy’s side, Eliam (442), Colter (344), Ozzy (336), and Loyal (300) all saw major increases from 2020 to 2021. For the girls, only two names, Wrigley and Angelique, saw their ranking increase by over three hundred.

At the other end of the spectrum, some of the names that have lost popularity between 2020 and 2021 included Jaxtyn (-349), Karsyn (-254), and Xzavier (-236) for boys and Denisse (-471)/Denise (-360), and Karen (-263) for girls.

Karen sinking further down on the list of names is an intriguing phenomenon perhaps linked to the fame the name has received in popular culture.

When looking at the top ten names for boys, there are just a few minor differences between the lists in 2020 and 2021.

Interestingly at the state level, other names that do not make the national top ten list are quite popular. For example, in Alaska, the girls names Hazel, Aurora, Eleanor, Evelyn, and Isla are some of the most popular. In California, Luna and Gianna make the top ten list for girls, and Mateo, Sebastian, Julian, and Daniel made the list for the boys.

One hundred years back....

Between 1921 and 2021, 4,663,035 were named James, and 3,124,584 were named Mary, making these the most common baby names of the last century.