Which boy names increased and decreased the most in popularity from 2014 to 2015?
Here are two ways to look at it. The SSA’s way looks at ranking differences and covers the top 1,000 boy names (roughly). My way looks at raw number differences and takes all boy names on the SSA’s list into account.
Biggest Increases
Raw Numbers (all boy names) | Rankings (top 1,000 boy names) |
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Riaan was boosted by a celebrity baby born in late 2014 to Bollywood actors Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza.
Jaziel’s rise seems to be due to Jaziel Avilez, a young singer featured in the 2014 song “Padre Ejemplar” [vid] by Mexican group Los Titanes de Durango.
Omari’s rise can be traced back to American actor Omari Hardwick, who has appeared in the TV shows Being Mary Jane and Power lately, and Jabari’s to basketball player Jabari Parker, the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
Biggest Decreases
Raw Numbers (all boy names) | Rankings (top 1,000 boy names) |
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I can remember Neymar debuting in 2010 under the influence was Brazilian footballer Neymar.
In 2014, the big winners were Oliver and Bode, and the big losers were Jayden and Bently.
Sources: Change in Popularity from 2014 to 2015, Emma and Noah Once Again Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names for 2015
U.S. Baby Names 2015: Most Popular Baby Names, Top Debuts: Girl Names, Top Debuts: Boy Names, Biggest Changes in Popularity: Girl Names, Biggest Changes in Popularity: Boy Names, First Letter Popularity, Name Length Popularity
Interesting to see Jase plummet, I guess Duck Dynasty having awful ratings last year has to do with it.
Although this year there is a character named Jace on Shadowhunters, so that may stop the bleeding of that spelling at least.
It’s so funny to see certain names become very trendy for a short period of time…then plummet.
Just for fun, here are more of the top raw number increases (#11 to #50):
11. Henry, +706
12. Sawyer, +659
13. Abel, +659
14. Leo, +609
15. Adriel, +589
16. Greyson, +543
17. August, +528
18. Nolan, +517
19. Everett, +497
20. Dawson, +497
21. Kyrie, +472
22. Axel, +436
23. Killian, +425
24. Kai, +422
25. Owen, +414
26. Cooper, +408
27. Roman, +408
28. Jayce, +403
29. Ezekiel, +395
30. Emmett, +394
31. Amir, +388
32. Amari, +387
33. Iker, +382
34. Tobias, +378
35. Maverick, +376
36. Leonardo, +364
37. Rhett, +360
38. Julian, +355
39. Weston, +347
40. Kingston, +347
41. Jaxon, +340
42. Beckham, +340
43. Beau, +336
44. Graham, +330
45. Messiah, +327
46. James, +322
47. Finn, +301
48. Elias, +296
49. Beckett, +295
50. Luca, +292
Oops, guess I spoke too soon, Jayce did indeed climb.
Kyrie is because of Kyrie Irving. Iker is because of Iker Casillas. Sport does have its influence.
Sports is definitely influential. (I ought to post about sports-inspired names more often — there really are a lot of them.)
One influence on Mateo/Matteo is probably TV show Jane the Virgin – the main character’s infant son is Mateo. It’s a show that appreciates the art of baby naming – there’s a reoccurring gag about a character who, totally oblivious to the pop culture connection, named her twins Anna and Elsa.
That sounds like a good show! :)
And I bet that’s exactly the reason Mateo/Matteo has blown up. Thanks, Becca.