How popular is the baby name Matthew in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Matthew.
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According to the Government of New Jersey, the most popular baby names in the state in 2018 were Emma and Liam.
Here are New Jersey’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2018:
Girl Names
Boy Names
Source: Top New Jersey baby names of 2018! (Twitter)
Image: Adapted from Flag of New Jersey (public domain)
According to New York City’s Department of Health, the most popular baby names in the city in 2017 were Emma and Liam.
Here are New York City’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:
Girl Names
1. Emma
2. Olivia
3. Mia
4. Sophia
5. Isabella
6. Ava
7. Leah
8. Emily
9. Sarah
10. Abigail
Boy Names
1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Jacob
4. Ethan
5. David
6. Lucas
7. Matthew
8. Jayden
9. Aiden
10. Daniel
In the girls’ top ten, Abigail replaced Madison.
In the boys’ top ten, David and Jayden replaced Dylan and Michael.
Within each of the five boroughs, the top baby names were…
And finally, some of the baby names bestowed just 10 times each in NYC last year:
NYC also used to break down top names by ethnic/racial group (see the 2015 rankings, for example) but this time around the news release didn’t include that information.
Source: Health Department Announces Emma and Liam Are Most Popular Baby Names For 2017
Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)
According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland in 2017 were Emily and James.
Here are the country’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:
Girl Names
1. Emily, 216 baby girls
2. Grace, 202
3. Olivia, 179
4. Isla, 153
5. Anna, 142
6. Sophie, 132
7. Ella, 128
8. Amelia, 127
9. Charlotte, 124
10. Sophia, 121
Boy Names
1. James, 243 baby boys
2. Jack, 226
3. Noah, 189
4. Charlie, 185
5. Jacob, 180
6. Harry, 169
7. Thomas, 158
8. Daniel, 147
9. Oliver, 143
10. Logan, 125
In the girls’ top ten, Isla and Charlotte replaced Lily and Ava.
In the boys’ top ten, Thomas and Logan replaced Matthew and Alfie.
The top two names, Emily and James, were the same in 2016.
In the adjacent Republic of Ireland, the top names of 2017 were Emily and Jack.
Sources: Baby Names – NISRA, Top 10 baby names in Northern Ireland
Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)
Which boy names increased the most in popularity from 2016 to 2017? And which ones decreased the most?
There are a few different ways to answer this question. The SSA, for instance, likes to look at ranking differences within the top 1,000. And I like to augment their list by looking at raw number differences across all the data.
So let’s look at increases first…
Rankings
1. Wells, +504 spots
2. Kairo, +423
3. Caspian, +328
4. Nova, +323
5. Colson, +323
6. Kace, +315
7. Kashton, +302
8. Koa, +294
9. Gatlin, +282
10. Bjorn, +276
Wells was influenced by Wells Adams, a contestant from The Bachelorette. Nova may have been influenced by “all those Villanova Wildcats basketball fans naming their sons in celebration of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions.”
Raw Numbers
1. Logan, +2,748 babies
2. Maverick, +1,751
3. Ezekiel, +1,350
4. Mateo, +1,181
5. Lincoln, +1,032
6. Theodore, +1,018
7. Matias, +643
8. Leo, +642
9. Jameson, +639
10. Rowan, +637
Other names that saw raw number increases in the 300+ range included Asher, Santiago, Ezra, Rhett, Waylon, and Legend.
And now let’s check out decreases…
Rankings
1. Riaan, -421 spots
2. Kylo, -245
3. Kolby, -195
4. Urijah, -189
5. Kamdyn, -189
6. Jamar, -163
7. Giovani, -160
8. Nickolas, -155
9. Chad, -155
10. Jair, -147
The higher they climb, the harder they fall: Riaan was the fastest-rising boy name of 2015, and Kylo was the fastest-rising boy name of 2016, and now they’re both plummeting in 2017.
Raw Numbers
1. Mason, -1,728 babies
2. Michael, -1,478
3. Ethan, -1,417
4. Jacob, -1,373
5. Daniel, -1,281
6. Andrew, -1,161
7. Gabriel, -1,124
8. Anthony, -1,049
9. Matthew, -994
10. Owen, -970
Other names that saw raw number drops in the (negative) 300+ range included Aiden, Jackson, Gavin, Ryder, Jase, Hudson, and Tristan.
Do you have any explanations for the name movement above? If so, please comment!
Sources: Change in Popularity, SSA, Emma and Liam Top Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names for 2017
