Which boy names increased in usage the most from 2021 to 2022?
Here’s a table of the fastest-rising boy names of 2022. On the left are the top 25 increases in terms of absolute change (numbers of babies). On the right are the top 25 increases in terms of relative change (percentages of babies).
| Rank | Boy name | Absolute rise | Boy name | Relative rise |
| 1 | Walker | 1,372 | Myheir | 640% |
| 2 | Theodore | 1,173 | Maykel | 600% |
| 3 | Mateo | 1,162 | Kazmir | 500% |
| 4 | Santiago | 951 | Ithiel | 400% |
| 5 | Cooper | 940 | Kuiper | 340% |
| 6 | Luca | 930 | Majestic | 340% |
| 7 | Theo | 915 | Vedaant | 333% |
| 8 | Thiago | 749 | Kix | 320% |
| 9 | Kai | 719 | Ezryn | 300% |
| 10 | Stetson | 584 | Navon | 300% |
| 11 | Ezra | 529 | Azair | 290% |
| 12 | Leo | 467 | Honour | 280% |
| 13 | Wesley | 431 | Orhan | 268% |
| 14 | Sebastian | 427 | Aavyan | 264% |
| 15 | Maverick | 401 | Vishaan | 260% |
| 16 | Koa | 399 | Maynard | 257% |
| 17 | Tate | 396 | Dutton | 242% |
| 18 | Oliver | 393 | Azarius | 240% |
| 19 | Angel | 367 | Cayce | 240% |
| 20 | Enzo | 355 | Izreal | 240% |
| 21 | Atlas | 352 | Noar | 240% |
| 22 | Elias | 348 | Shyne | 238% |
| 23 | Micah | 327 | Dupree | 233% |
| 24 | Eithan | 324 | Jafeth | 229% |
| 25 | Amir | 316 | Zimri | 229% |
Walker, Theodore, and several others were also among the fastest-rising names (absolute change) in 2021.
A couple of possible explanations for the relative rises…
- Maykel Osorbo is a rapper/activist from Cuba who was jailed in mid-2022.
- Dutton is a surname from the TV series Yellowstone. (And Cayce is similar to Kayce, a forename from Yellowstone.)
If you can explain any of the other rises, please leave a comment!
Image: Adapted from Turkey-2036 by Dennis Jarvis under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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– Vedaant Madhavan is the teenage son of Indian actor R. Madhavan and has won some international swimming championships.
– Cayce is another spelling of Kayce, which surged in popularity this year and is the name of a character on “Yellowstone.”
– Orhan is a character on the Turkish TV show “Kurulus: Osman,” which is broadcast in Spanish.
– Scott Kazmir is a veteran baseball player, although it doesn’t look like his recent seasons have been particularly notable.
Thank you, alex!