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 number increases (all boy names) | Ranking increases (top 1,000 boy names) |
| 1. Oliver, +2,181 babies (9,411 to 11,592) 2. Matteo, +1,320 babies (835 to 2,155) 3. Grayson, +1,296 babies (6,556 to 7,852) 4. Mateo, +1,258 babies (3,729 to 4,987) 5. Lincoln, +1,150 babies (4,809 to 5,959) 6. Theodore, +895 babies (3,216 to 4,111) 7. Ezra, +893 babies (3,406 to 4,299) 8. Hudson, +779 babies (5,229 to 6,008) 9. Asher, +754 babies (4,305 to 5,059) 10. Wyatt, +750 babies (8,847 to 9,597) | 1. Riaan, +1,360 spots (2,286th to 926th) 2. Huxley, +392 spots (1,354th to 962nd) 3. Wilder, +360 spots (1,324th to 964th) 4. Jaziel, +276 spots (1,215th to 939th) 5. Canaan, +271 spots (1,077th to 806th) 6. Kaison, +251 spots (981st to 730th) 7. Brixton, +212 spots (1,197th to 985th) 8. Ridge, +204 spots (1,136th to 932nd) 9. Omari, +198 spots (708th to 510th) 10. Jabari, +194 spots (1,139th to 945th) |
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 number decreases (all boy names) | Ranking decreases (top 1,000 boy names) |
| 1. Jase, -1,459 babies (3,737 to 2,278) 2. Jayden, -1,448 babies (12,923 to 11,475) 3. Joshua, -1,123 babies (10,843 to 9,720) 4. Andrew, -1,097 babies (11,124 to 10,027) 5. Michael, -1,079 babies (15,400 to 14,321) 6. Jacob, -996 babies (16,812 to 15,816) 7. Anthony, -974 babies (11,538 to 10,564) 8. William, -967 babies (16,776 to 15,809) 9. Jace, -965 babies (6,276 to 5,311) 10. Alexander, -902 babies (15,362 to 14,460) | 1. Arnav, -666 spots (888th to 1,554th) 2. Jayse, -257 spots (910th to 1,167th) 3. Neymar, -240 spots (550th to 790th) 4. Rylee, -228 spots (879th to 1,107th) 5. Johnathon, -213 spots (915th to 1,128th) 6. Broderick, -195 spots (971st to 1,166th) 7. Brenden, -187 spots (711th to 898th) 8. Yael, -178 spots (913th to 1,091st) 9. Aidyn, -173 spots (925th to 1,098th) 10. Gavyn, -167 spots (944th to 1,111th) |
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 – SSA, Emma and Noah Once Again Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names for 2015 – SSA
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.