Which girl names emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 2023 for the first time ever?
A total of 659 girl names debuted in the data last year, and the most impressive debut was made by Rumani. Here are the top debuts overall:
- Rumani, 88 baby girls
- Cimani, 67
- Naiari, 66
- Azaylie, 39
- Nizaraly, 38
- Seoni, 37
- Aryya, 22
- Aluney, 21
- Yanaisy, 21
- Yuleini, 19
- Yameiry, 18
- Deriany, 17
- Adalett, 16
- Alicent, 15
- Waziha, 15
- Dayali, 14
- Ketzali, 14
Aluney’s appearance is likely related to the rise of Eluney last year, and Alicent comes from a character in the TV series House of the Dragon (the Game of Thrones prequel).
Here are some more debuts:
| 13 baby girls | Aesira, Anant, Biani, Izariya, Jazaely, Nazaia, Shrivi, Zelyiana |
| 12 baby girls | Axyla, Mariham, Storiee |
| 11 baby girls | Ahlora, Ishira, Jaretssy, Keyorie, Nehmat, Rhayn, Savanni, Sheynnis, Solomiia, Xanthi, Yelenny |
| 10 baby girls | Ahzuri, Ailiany, Aquetzali, Barkat, Ezriah, Ifora, Maisleigh, Marliya, Mulanii, Oveah, Rhaena, Riani |
Jaretssy (as with Aluney/Eluney) can be attributed to the rise of Jaretssi last year, and Sheynnis comes from Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua, who was crowned Miss Universe 2023 last November.
Finally, here’s a selection of the rest of the debuts:
- 9 baby girls: Azary, Croia, Hrida, Khemani, Truveya, Tsireya
- 8 baby girls: Adalette, Dalahni, Digiannia, Elunay, Eylen, Jophiel, Mare, Milki, Navvy, Oleander, Rouss, Xenobia, Yahlani
- 7 baby girls: Aemma, Aleinad, Chimnora, Ezeriah, Freydis, Jasoni, Kaelli, Khalanni, Namora, Poetic, Renzi, Ruemani, Seonie, Shlay, Zeylani
- 6 baby girls: Ahado, Bibihawa, Chantzy, Dalanni, Elswyth, Heysell, Iluminada, Itotiani, Kayeli, Leihana, Native, Oslin, Raphtalia, Rosemina, Ryza, Salix, Whiskey, Wood, Zarissa
- 5 baby girls: Alluka, Aomi, Bethesda, Calliandra, Calluna, Doxa, Dune, Elloa, Energy, Gaeli, Greyshell, Hades, Haumea, Iyris, Jashly, Kavery, Marycollins, Millaray, Muxi, Peridot, Rahmani, Remirose, Roulette, Sarvi, Trulove, Tsumugi, Ungwa, Viper
Tsireya is a character from the 2022 movie Avatar: The Way of Water, and Namora is a character from the 2022 movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Digiannia must come from Colombian influencer/singer Digiannia “Digi” Lanca.
Raphtalia is a character in the Japanese manga/anime The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Tsumugi might come from a character in the Japanese video game franchise Danganronpa.
Ryza could be based on RZA, which was used as a (male) baby name by Rihanna and ASAP Rocky recently.
(A few extra facts: Iluminada means “illuminated” in Spanish, Ungwa means “blood” in Hopi, and Itotiani is derived from the Nahuatl word itotia, which refers to dancing. Willow trees are of the genus Salix, heather is of the genus Calluna, and various “powder puff plants” are of the genus Calliandra.)
If you can explain any of the other debuts, please leave a comment!
Sources: SSA, Wiktionary, Online Nahuatl Dictionary
Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri
Aemma — another House of the Dragon name, probably a fantasy spelling of Emma
Barkat — Probably Arabic for “blessings”, from the same root as Barack
Bethesda — Hebrew for “house of mercy”, as in Bethesda, Maryland
Croía — Irish Gaelic for “little heart”, quite popular right now in Ireland and Northern Ireland after it was used by an Irish celebrity. It is pronounced Kree-uh
Freydis — Old Norse, “Lady ruler, ruler”
Hades — The underworld in Greek mythology
Haumea — the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and the name of a dwarf planet
Jophiel — an angel representing beauty, art and wisdom in some apocryphal Christian sources and Jewish Kabbalah. I’ve seen Jophielle used as a feminine spelling.
Millaray — Chilean Mapuche for “golden flower”
Oleander — botanical name from the poisonous evergreen shrub
Peridot — the August birthstone
Roulette — Probably from the roulette wheel or Russian roulette
Aleinad — Daniela backwards, name of a California musician
Aomi — South Asian luxury brand
Chantzy — probably an elaboration or feminine version of Chance, which is often spelled Chantz
Hrida — Sanskrit for “pure”
Iyris — spelling variant of Iris
Kavery — Tamil name, possibly related to a word for poetry
Muxi — Probably Chinese
Navvy —spelling variant of the popular name Navy
Rhaena — Another House of the Dragon character name
Rumani, Rahmany — Character in the video game Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Sarvi — Persian for “cypress tree”
Truveya — my best guess is a respelling ofbthe artificial sweetener Truvia
Xenobia — Spelling variant of Zenobia
Adalett — Turkish 2023 television crime drama
Aryya – respelling of Arya
Bibihawa — “Lady Eve”, in use in Afghanistan and thevregion
Elswyth — Anglo-Saxon medieval queen, means “strong temple”
Ketzali, respelling of Quetzalli, Aztec for “beautiful feather”
Mariham — probably a variant of Maryam
Shrivi — Hindu, “follower of Shiva”
Storiee — respelling of Story
Xanthi — variant of Xanthe, Greek for “blonde”
Nehmat is the name of a character on the Hindi show Udaariyaan.
Alluka is a character in the anime Hunter.
Doxa is a luxury watch brand.
Shlay is the daughter of a popular Haitian Tiktoker based in Florida (elflacofranciscoshlay).
Greyshell is the daughter of Ecuadorian influencers Simón Mora and Grace Castro.
Zelyiana is the daughter of YouTube creators The Trench Family, sister to Zakyius, which also débuted this year.
A few guesses on name origins:
– Chimnora (Nigerian)
– Ahado (Somali)
– Chantzy (Yiddish)
– Mariham (Amharic)
Azaylie — English phonetic spelling of French Azélie, the full name of Catholic Saint Zélie Guérin Martin
Biani— Luxury clothing brand
Dune — Probably from the movie Dune as well as sand dune
Itotiani — Nahuatl word for “Aztec Dancer”, song by Chicano Batman
Rhayn — Probably a respelling of Rain, possibly influenced by a musician
Rosemina — of diverse origins, in use in Haitian, Persian, and in African countries. Seems to mean “little rose.”
Rouss — musician Pablo Rouss?
Thank you so much for doing all this research, Andrea and alex!
As soon as I’m done writing blog posts about all the new data, I will come back and read all of your comments much more closely. :)