Emma and Noah were the most popular baby names in the United States in 2014.
Here’s the top 10:
Girl Names | Boy Names |
---|---|
1. Emma, 20799 baby girls 2. Olivia, 19674 3. Sophia, 18490 4. Isabella, 16950 5. Ava, 15586 6. Mia, 13442 7. Emily, 12562 8. Abigail, 11985 9. Madison, 10247 10. Charlotte, 10048 | 1. Noah, 19144 baby boys 2. Liam, 18342 3. Mason, 17092 4. Jacob, 16712 5. William, 16687 6. Ethan, 15619 7. Michael, 15323 8. Alexander, 15293 9. James, 14301 10. Daniel, 13829 |
Noah remained the #1 boy name, and Emma replaced Sophia as the #1 girl name.
On the girls’ side, Charlotte replaced Elizabeth (now 14th). Elizabeth hasn’t dipped this low since the late 1970s.
On the boys’ side, James replaced Jayden (now 15th). James was last in the top 10 in the early 1990s.
Here’s the rest of the top 50:
Girl Names | Boy Names |
---|---|
11. Harper, 9564 12. Sofia, 9542 13. Avery, 9517 14. Elizabeth, 9492 15. Amelia, 8727 16. Evelyn, 8692 17. Ella, 8489 18. Chloe, 8469 19. Victoria, 7955 20. Aubrey, 7589 21. Grace, 7554 22. Zoey, 7358 23. Natalie, 7061 24. Addison, 6950 25. Lillian, 6869 26. Brooklyn, 6767 27. Lily, 6727 28. Hannah, 6512 29. Layla, 6428 30. Scarlett, 5965 31. Aria, 5893 32. Zoe, 5828 33. Samantha, 5680 34. Anna, 5639 35. Leah, 5563 36. Audrey, 5531 37. Ariana, 5461 38. Allison, 5440 39. Savannah, 5433 40. Arianna, 5240 41. Camila, 5194 42. Penelope, 5062 43. Gabriella, 5051 44. Claire, 4991 45. Aaliyah, 4850 46. Sadie, 4823 47. Riley, 4761 48. Skylar, 4732 49. Nora, 4708 50. Sarah, 4647 | 11. Elijah, 13694 12. Benjamin, 13687 13. Logan, 13579 14. Aiden, 13296 15. Jayden, 12878 16. Matthew, 12809 17. Jackson, 12121 18. David, 12078 19. Lucas, 12078 20. Joseph, 11995 21. Anthony, 11490 22. Andrew, 11069 23. Samuel, 10859 24. Gabriel, 10826 25. Joshua, 10764 26. John, 10600 27. Carter, 10599 28. Luke, 10431 29. Dylan, 10350 30. Christopher, 10278 31. Isaac, 9868 32. Oliver, 9365 33. Henry, 9350 34. Sebastian, 9237 35. Caleb, 9143 36. Owen, 9100 37. Ryan, 9026 38. Nathan, 8902 39. Wyatt, 8812 40. Hunter, 8759 41. Jack, 8685 42. Christian, 8388 43. Landon, 8180 44. Jonathan, 8035 45. Levi, 7958 46. Jaxon, 7635 47. Julian, 7611 48. Isaiah, 7530 49. Eli, 7428 50. Aaron, 7334 |
On the girls’ side, Ariana, Penelope, Skylar and Nora (previously ranked 54th, 56th, 73rd and 82nd) are new to the top 50. They replaced Hailey, Kaylee, Alexis and Nevaeh (now ranked 51st, 52nd, 64th and 65th).
On the boys’s side, Oliver and Aaron (previously ranked 52nd and 51st) are new to the top 50. They replaced Brayden and Gavin (now ranked 62nd and 60th).
The biggest jumps within the top 50 were Scarlett (+12 spots), Sebastian (+11) and Aria (+9).
The biggest drops within the top 50 were Aaliyah (-10), Christian (-7), Ryan (-7) and Nathan (-7).
Here’s more from the SSA’s press release:
Aranza jumped an amazing 3,625 spots on the girls’ side to number 607, from number 4,232 in 2013. The Latin soap opera “ Por siempre mi amor” was aired on Univision from 2013 to 2015. The show featured a young lead character named Aranza, and obviously had its effect on naming trends last year.
Bode raced ahead 645 spots, from number 1,428 in 2013 to number 783 in 2014. This might have had something to do with the Winter Olympics in early 2014, where Bode Miller continued his outstanding alpine skiing career by collecting his sixth Olympic medal. Not only is he the most successful male American alpine skier of all time, he is considered by many to be an American hero.
The second fastest riser for boys was Axl, a nod to both rock legend Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Axl Jack Duhamel, son of Stacy Ann “Fergie” Ferguson and Josh Duhamel. For girls, Montserrat, the lead character in a very popular Latin soap opera, was number two, joined by another Monserrat (spelled just one letter differently) at number three.
More posts on the new names coming soon!
U.S. Baby Names 2014: Most popular names, Top girl-name debuts, Top boy-name debuts, Biggest girl-name changes, Biggest boy-name changes, Top first letters, Top lengths
Sources: SSA, Noah and Emma Top Social Security’s List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2014 – SSA
Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)
I believe “Charlotte” is on its way to being the next number 1. It is shooting up rapidly; why would it top out now? Chelsea Clinton (daughter of the former US President) and more recently the Duchess of Cambridge in England named their daughters Charlotte.
I also think the usage of Charlotte will rise. I’m not as confident about it eventually reaching #1, but I think it could easy reach 7th or 6th.
What does everyone else think — will Charlotte be the #1 name in the U.S. someday?