Which girl names increased in usage the most from 2021 to 2022?
Here’s a table of the fastest-rising girl names of 2022. On the left are the top 25 increases in terms of absolute change (number of babies). On the right are the top 25 increases in terms of relative change (percentage of babies).
Rank | Girl name | Absolute rise | Girl name | Relative rise |
1 | Violet | 926 | Debanhi | 1,164% |
2 | Luna | 706 | Yailin | 562% |
3 | Scarlett | 606 | Ailen | 447% |
4 | Alora | 505 | Devani | 383% |
5 | Millie | 490 | Kenedi | 383% |
6 | Wrenley | 486 | Hadasha | 380% |
7 | Juniper | 476 | Namari | 357% |
8 | Lainey | 465 | Harnaaz | 350% |
9 | Aurora | 451 | Mirabel | 350% |
10 | Valentina | 417 | Soriah | 342% |
11 | Maeve | 406 | Kieran | 288% |
12 | Isabella | 400 | Audyn | 286% |
13 | Ivy | 386 | Noeli | 286% |
14 | Oaklynn | 381 | Eloa | 283% |
15 | Wren | 371 | Jatziry | 280% |
16 | Leilani | 358 | Adaia | 277% |
17 | Lily | 351 | Xiah | 267% |
18 | Eloise | 345 | Azaleia | 260% |
19 | Iris | 344 | Falaq | 260% |
20 | Eliana | 336 | Hava | 260% |
21 | Nova | 336 | Giovana | 257% |
22 | Sage | 328 | Parklyn | 257% |
23 | Oakley | 302 | Kaeli | 255% |
24 | Freya | 301 | Wateen | 255% |
25 | Athena | 300 | Ketzaly* | 250% |
*Also at 250% were Menna and Mills.
Violet, Luna, and several other names were also among the fastest-rising names (absolute change) in 2021.
A couple of possible explanations for the relative rises…
- Debanhi Escobar was an 18-year-old Mexican woman who was murdered in April of 2022.
- Yailin La Más Viral (transl. “the most viral”) is a female rapper from the Dominican Republic. (Her legal first name is Jorgina.)
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.
Always look forward to this list and trying to figure out the origin of the fastest-rising names. I definitely had my eyes on Yailin this year!
– Devani is a Spanish phonetic spelling of Debanhi.
– Hadasha is a competitor on the competition reality show Tengo Mucho Talento. The show made a point about showing how her unusual name is spelled and pronounced (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgqGAn_41Zo).
– I’m not sure about Eloa, but it sounds like it was the name of a woman who was imprisoned by an ex-boyfriend and rescued by the police in 2008 in Brazil. It looks like this was super high-profile at the time and there has been some recent coverage revisiting the crime. I wonder if there was coverage by a Spanish-language news agency in the US or something.
– Wateen is a Pakistani mobile company. Absolutely no clue why it might have trended this year as a girls name.
– Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu, an Indian model, was Miss Universe 2021.
– Mirabel was the main character in the movie Encanto.
– Kenedi Anderson was a contestant on American Idol who got a lot of attention after dropping out of the competition.
– Namari is another spelling of Namaari, which I think trended last year because it’s a character in Raya and the Last Dragon.
Most of the “absolute change” names are fine or even nice — that is a relief. The only ones I hate are Wrenley, Oaklynn, and Oakley.
I love the name Mirabel. Glad to see it’s on the rise.
Thank you, alex!
I agree, Sharky, Mirabel is a lovely name. :)