Biggest changes in girl name popularity, 2012

Which girl names made the biggest gains from 2011 to 2012?

And which ones suffered the biggest losses?

This is where the stats start telling us some interesting stories!

Below I’ve got two different lists for both “increases” and “decreases.”

On the left is the my list. I looked at the raw number differences between the 2011 names and the 2012 names. My analysis covers all 19,380 girl names on the 2012 list.

On the right is the SSA’s list. They looked at the ranking differences between the 2011 names and the 2012 names. Their analysis covers approximately the top 500 girl names on the 2012 list.

Biggest Increases

The baby girl names that saw the biggest popularity increases from 2011 to 2012 were…

Nancy’s list (raw numbers)SSA’s list (rankings)
  1. Harper, +2,496 babies [rank: 54th to 24th]
  2. Emma, +2,053 babies [rank: 3rd to 2nd]
  3. Paisley, +1,269 babies [rank: 195th to 104th]
  4. Aria, +1,232 babies [rank: 157th to 91st]
  5. Skylar, +1,173 babies [rank: 145th to 87th]
  6. Aubree, +1,100 babies [rank: 99th to 60th]
  7. Zoey, +1,030 babies [rank: 28th to 20th]
  8. Charlotte, +1,017 babies [rank: 27th to 19th]
  9. Avery, +952 babies [rank: 18th to 13th]
  10. Aubrey, +846 babies [rank: 20th to 15th]
  11. Amelia, +842 babies [rank: 30th to 23rd]
  12. Mila, +835 babies [rank: 174th to 115th]
  13. Genesis, +779 babies [rank: 82nd to 56th]
  14. Hannah, +672 babies [rank: 25th to 22nd]
  15. Penelope, +647 babies [rank: 169th to 125th]
  16. Hadley, +645 babies [rank: 178th to 130th]
  17. Nora, +639 babies [rank: 137th to 107th]
  18. Cataleya, +608 babies [rank: 4,931st to 479th]
  19. Cora, +516 babies [rank: 203rd to 155th]
  20. Reagan, +470 babies [rank: 121st to 97th]
  1. Arya, +298 (711th to 413th)
  2. Perla, +190 (642nd to 452nd)
  3. Catalina, +171 (648th to 477th)
  4. Elisa, +168 (534th to 366th)
  5. Raelynn, +155 (496th to 341st)
  6. Rosalie, +141 (547th to 406th)
  7. Haven, +140 (572nd to 432nd)
  8. Raelyn, +136 (585th to 449th)
  9. Briella, +123 (498th to 375th)
  10. Marilyn, +119 (545th to 426th)
  11. Adelynn, +116 (581st to 465th)
  12. Hanna, +106 (454th to 348th)
  13. Ayla, +97 (347th to 250th)
  14. Averie, +96 (554th to 458th)
  15. Arabella, +92 (337th to 245th)
  16. Paisley, +91 (195th to 104th)
  17. Arielle, +91 (501st to 410th)
  18. Adalynn, +88 (328th to 240th)
  19. Elsie, +86 (483rd to 397th)
  20. Myla, +85 (484th to 399th)

Check out Cataleya! That’s quite a jump.

Here are last year’s raw number jumps and last year’s ranking jumps.

Biggest Decreases

The baby girl names that saw the biggest popularity decreases from 2011 to 2012 were…

Nancy’s list (raw numbers)SSA’s list (rankings)
  1. Chloe, -1,361 babies [rank: 10th to 11th]
  2. Alexis, -1,194 babies [rank: 26th to 40th]
  3. Addison, -1,158 babies [rank: 13th to 14th]
  4. Madison, -1,017 babies [rank: 8th to 9th]
  5. Alyssa, -935 babies [rank: 37th to 44th]
  6. Isabella, -893 babies [rank: 2nd to 3rd]
  7. Natalie, -760 babies [rank: 14th to 17th]
  8. Nevaeh, -739 babies [rank: 35th to 39th]
  9. Ashley, -709 babies [rank: 42nd to 50th]
  10. Makayla, -691 babies [rank: 56th to 69th]
  11. Emily, -664 babies [rank: 6th to 6th]
  12. Khloe, -644 babies [rank: 49th to 55th]
  13. Leah, -642 babies [rank: 29th to 33rd]
  14. Abigail, -622 babies [rank: 7th to 7th]
  15. Gabriella, -608 babies [rank: 33rd to 37th]
  16. Kayla, -568 babies [rank: 59th to 70th]
  17. Brianna, -562 babies [rank: 45th to 51st]
  18. Destiny, -549 babies [rank: 91st to 113th]
  19. Sydney, -531 babies [rank: 65th to 78th]
  20. Jocelyn, -515 babies [rank: 70th to 92nd]
  1. Dulce, -159 (415th to 574th)
  2. Mikaela, -141 (451st to 592nd)
  3. Estrella, -129 (433rd to 562nd)
  4. Danna, -125 (365th to 490th)
  5. Audrina, -122 (318th to 440th)
  6. Cameron, -113 (440th to 553rd)
  7. Kiera, -108 (482nd to 590th)
  8. Savanna, -101 (346th to 447th)
  9. Paola, -98 (477th to 575th)
  10. Tenley, -96 (424th to 520th)
  11. Kendra, -94 (293rd to 387th)
  12. Breanna, -94 (309th to 403rd)
  13. Kailyn, -93 (399th to 492nd)
  14. Jasmin, -93 (422nd to 515th)
  15. Joselyn, -92 (369th to 461st)
  16. Kiley, -90 (423rd to 513th)
  17. Jayden, -88 (292nd to 380th)
  18. Liana, -82 (464th to 546th)
  19. Sasha, -77 (374th to 451st)
  20. Karen, -66 (287th to 353rd)

Here are last year’s raw number drops and last year’s ranking drops.

Source: SSA’s Change In Popularity From 2011 To 2012

11 thoughts on “Biggest changes in girl name popularity, 2012”

  1. I think your numbers give us a better sense of the trends. What’s with Raelyn/n?

  3. I have a 17 year-old cousin named Raelin (rhyming with Waylon rather than Ray- lynn.) Her name seemed “funky” when she was born, but now it fits in with Kaylen, Ashlinn & Adelynn. That’s a trend that can wind down any day now.

  4. On Arya/Aria:

    Arya is a “Game of Thrones” character.

    Aria is a “Pretty Little Liars” character.

    (Imagine how high one of them could have jumped if the shows had used the same spelling.)

  5. Any thoughts on the rise in Marilyn? It used by about 200 more babies this year than last. It’s my grandmother’s name, and I can’t see any trends in fits in.

  6. Could be the movie My Week with Marilyn, which was released in late 2011. Michelle Williams was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe.

  7. Mila: Mila Kunis
    Penelope: the Kardashian baby
    Cora: the Downton Abbey character
    Haven: Jessica Alba’s baby
    Reagan: perhaps inspired by the American elections last year
    Skylar: the Breaking Bad character
    Elsie: Elsie Windes, American water polo player who won a Gold medal in the London Olympics

  8. Why do parents name their daughters Paisley in the USA? I always have to think of Ian Paisley, a die-hard fundamentalist from Northern Ireland, when I hear that name.

  10. Thanks for the guess. It fits well to the regional distribution of the name Paisley.

  11. Arya has been given to 38 babies in Sweden since June of 2011, according to data from Statistics Sweden.

    Whilst Arya was the runaway favourite the next most popular names were Sandor (20) Jaime (12) Theon (10) with the good-hearted Khaleesei inspiring five parents to name their daughter after her according to figures published in Aftonbladet.

    Source: Game of Thrones sparks Swede baby name trend

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