Boy names on the decline in the U.S. in 2021

fallen leaves

Which boy names decreased in usage the most from 2020 to 2021?

Here’s a table of the fastest-falling boy names of 2021. On the left are the top 25 decreases in terms of absolute numbers of babies, and on the right are the top 25 decreases in terms of relative numbers of babies.

RankBoy nameAbsolute fallBoy nameRelative fall
1Mason-1,035Dontavious-78%
2Alexander-880Karder-75%
3Jacob-860Azarius-74%
4Michael-742Daelan-74%
5Ethan-717Daijon-73%
6Matthew-685Alante-72%
7Connor-650Jafari-72%
8Ryan-613Kova-72%
9Hunter-595Dasan-71%
10William-525Issiah-71%
11Joshua-509Aldair-70%
12Emmanuel-491Makbel-70%
13Jaxson-489Kyre-69%
14Christian-487Joaopedro-69%
15Colton-477Khiro-69%
16Andrew-466Kix-69%
17Brayden-452Naoki-69%
18Jaxon-440Carrick-68%
19Karter-434Feliciano-68%
20Carson-430Drexel-67%
21Elijah-428Dairon-67%
22Benjamin-418Marken-67%
23Daniel-411Amarri-67%
24Kobe-399Shyheim-67%
25Carter-389Braxxton*-65%

*Also at -65% was Montavious.

Kobe was 2020’s largest absolute increase by a good margin. (The second name on that list, Theodore, broke into the top 10 in 2021.)

Here are the boy names that saw the steepest dives out of the data (i.e., to below 5 instances of usage) in 2021:

  • given to 26 babies in 2020: Burhanuddin
  • given to 20 babies in 2020: Bader
  • given to 18 babies in 2020: Hyatt, Reylan
  • given to 17 babies in 2020: Abdelrahman
  • given to 16 babies in 2020: Kymeir

Do you have thoughts/insights about any of the above names?

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Fall (6282684630) by Kenny Louie under CC BY 2.0.

[Latest update: Feb. 2024]

2 thoughts on “Boy names on the decline in the U.S. in 2021

  1. – Kiari is the given name of rapper Offset and was used as a middle name for his daughter with Cardi B, Kulture Kiari. While it dropped from 50 boys to 20 from 2020 to 2021, it surged from 67 girls to 97.
    – Sylar was a villain on the TV show Heroes, which ended in 2010 and may have just faded from memory. I’m not sure if that explains the precipitous drop.
    – Aldair is a Brazilian soccer player who retired in the mid-2000s. Again, not sure what explains the sharp drop in use of his name.

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