Biggest changes in girl name popularity, 2011

Which girl names saw the biggest increases in popularity from 2010 to 2011? How about the biggest decreases?

According to the numbers, the winner was Harper:

  1. Harper, +2012 babies (rank change: 118th to 54th)
  2. Aubrey, +1784 babies (rank change: 44th to 20th)
  3. Aubree, +1509 babies (rank change: 223rd to 99th)
  4. Emma, +1397 babies (rank change: 3rd to 3rd)
  5. Zoey, +1164 babies (rank change: 47th to 28th)
  6. Sophia, +1129 babies (rank change: 2nd to 1st)
  7. Aria, +1066 babies (rank change: 353rd to 157th)
  8. Charlotte, +1024 babies (rank change: 46th to 27th)
  9. Brooklyn, +1017 babies (rank change: 34th to 21st)
  10. Sofia, +981 babies (rank change: 26th to 19th)

The loser? Isabella:

  1. Isabella, -3077 babies (rank change: 1st to 2nd)
  2. Alexis, -1740 babies (rank change: 16th to 26th)
  3. Brianna, -1098 babies (rank change: 30th to 45th)
  4. Abigail, -1059 babies (rank change: 7th to 7th)
  5. Addison, -1056 babies (rank change: 11th to 13th)
  6. Samantha, -1048 babies (rank change: 15th to 17th)
  7. Alyssa, -1001 babies (rank change: 20th to 37th)
  8. Makayla, -959 babies (rank change: 43rd to 56th)
  9. Ashley, -929 babies (rank change: 27th to 42nd)
  10. Bella, -865 babies (rank change: 48th to 60th)

Not only did Isabella see the steepest drop in terms of usage, but she also got knocked out of the #1 spot by Sophia (Sophia was last year’s top climber, btw).

Girl names that decreased in usage but increased in rank (confusingly!) include Ella, Elizabeth and Arianna.

4 thoughts on “Biggest changes in girl name popularity, 2011

  1. Aubree is the daughter of Chelsea from MTV’s 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom 2. Harper is of course the Beckham baby. I am fascinated by how much we are influenced by pop culture.

  2. Are there any areas of the country where any of the top names were unusual? Or is it all Isabella, Sophia, etc?

  3. @Nancy S – The top names are usually about the same in all states. There’s certainly regional variation, but even the variation only throws other common names into the mix — never anything totally unusual.

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