Baby names & trends

Name Scout: Explore Official SSA Baby-Name Trends

Name Scout turns U.S. SSA baby-name records into trends by year, state, and decade, with name meanings and partner-synced favorites.

The 100-Year Rule in Baby Names: Why 1920s Names Return While 1970s Names Drop

Popular Two-Syllable Baby Names for Girls and Where They Peak

Boy Names Ending in O: Modern Trends and Popularity Rankings

Grandma Names for Girls: Vintage Baby Names Making a Comeback

Last Names as First Names: The Rise of Surname Baby Names for Boys

Popular One-Syllable Baby Names for Girls and Boys

The Latinate Suffix Wave: Why 62% of Top Baby Girl Names Now End in -a

Botanical and Nature Baby Names: The Century-Long Arc from Hazel and Ivy to Sage and River

Traditional Virtue Names vs. Modern Power Descriptors: From Grace and Faith to Maverick and Legend

The Rise of Vowel-Initial Baby Names and the Fall of Letter 'J'

Middle Name Phonetic Flow: Syllable Cadence and Consonant Junctions

The Long Tail of Baby Names: Why Today's #1 Name Is Four Times Rarer

The Rise and Decline of the Two-Syllable 'N'-Ending Boy Name Wave

The Unisex Baby Name Tipping Point: When Crossover Names Turn Permanently Feminine

State Baby Name Outliers in 2025: Where Regional Favorites Displace National #1s

Why Spelling Variants Split a Baby Name's Popularity Rank in U.S. Data

SSA ranks each spelling separately while stripping hyphens and spaces - putting Sophia (#5) and Sofia (#9) in the 2025 U.S. Top 10 together.

The Fastest-Rising Baby Names of 2025 Depend on What You Count

Klarity climbed 1,396 places on 257 extra babies. Ailany climbed 87 places on 4,530. Rank jumps and real gains tell different stories.

How Shared Baby Names Shift Between Girls and Boys

Ashley became strongly female in the U.S. records, but Rowan, Taylor and Remy show why changing name shares are not an irreversible rule or a forecast.

The X-Name Boom Peaked in 2018. What Changed?

Names containing X rose from 0.29% of boys’ published counts in 1960 to 4.46% in 2018, then eased to 3.36% in 2025. The group includes classics and newer spellings.

The Top Ten Baby Names Cover Far Fewer Babies Now, 1910–2025

The leading ten boys’ names accounted for 33.8% of published counts in 1950 and 8.0% in 2025. Girls’ top-ten share fell from 24.1% to 7.0%.

How the Final Letters of Boys’ Names Changed, 1910–2025

Final N reached 36.4% of boys’ published name counts in 2011, then fell to 28.0% in 2025. Written endings reveal a shift, but cannot stand in for pronunciation.

Old Baby Names Can Return - Without a Universal 100-Year Clock

Eleanor, Violet, Eloise, Josephine, Leo and Arthur show different revivals. Their histories explain why an old name can feel current, without predicting the next comeback.

How Long Does a Baby Name Take to Fall Below Half Its Peak?

Shirley reached half its peak count in four years; James took 25. Karen, Brittany, Alexa and Elizabeth show why one decay rule cannot describe every name.

Names Associated With Light and Water: Meaning and U.S. Trends

Clara, Lucy, Lucia, Kai, River and Marina offer different connections to light or water. Separate documented origins from imagery, then compare exact-spelling popularity.

How the Long-Name Gap Between Girls and Boys Narrowed, 1880–2025

The gap between girls’ and boys’ 7+ letter names has shrunk from 21.2 percentage points in the 1990s to 4.6 in 2020–25.

Olivia Kept First Place. Charlotte Nearly Closed the Gap.

Olivia’s lead over Charlotte narrowed from 2,175 U.S. girls in 2024 to 144 in 2025. Counts reveal a change that the unchanged number-one rank hides.

How to Read Baby-Name Trends by Decade: Rank, Count and Share

Elizabeth, Olivia and Eleanor show three different histories. Use pooled decade shares, recent annual counts and local context to understand a shortlist.

How to Choose a Baby Name With Your Partner

Collect independently, compare the overlap and discuss what each favourite offers. A worked shortlist example helps turn disagreement into a smaller, usable set.