How popular is the baby name Axl 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 Axl.

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Popularity of the baby name Axl


Posts that mention the name Axl

Three more baby names from dreams

twilight

So far we’ve talked about three baby names discovered through dreams: Easton, West, and Axl. Today we’ve got another three — two more from celebrities, one from a non-celeb.

Let’s start with the non-celeb: Selena Smith, career development coach at Spartanburg Community College in South Carolina. In an interview published about a month ago, she mentioned that the name of her 12-year-old son named Kyler “came to me in a dream while I was pregnant.”

Next we have actress/WWE wrestler Stacy Keibler, who said the name of her daughter Ava Grace (b. 2014) “came to me in a dream,” without elaborating. When asked about potential baby names a few weeks before the baby was born, Keibler said: “We just talked about one name and that was it–easy peasy. Everything with us has been easy and effortless, including the name.”

Finally there’s Pat Monahan, vocalist for the band Train. He said the name of his son Rock (b. 2012) came from a dream, but the person who had the dream wasn’t one of the parents:

“My sister-in-law was having these very intuitive, very intense dreams that [my unborn son] was visiting her and insisting that his name was Rock,” the singer, 43, tells PEOPLE.

After several episodes of baby boy revealing his name choice, Monahan admits they began to “take it real seriously” — especially when the expectant parents weren’t getting the message.

“She said that my son was coming to her and grabbing her face and saying, ‘Aunt Summer, my mom and dad won’t listen to me in their dreams. You need to tell them my name is Rock,'” he recalls.

“Then she had another one where he was wearing a [Colorado] Rockies uniform playing baseball. He was like, ‘Aunt Summer, look, my name’s on [my shirt].'”

Pat didn’t say how many name-related dreams Summer had in total.

Do you know of any other stories like these? Or, have you ever dreamed a baby name?

(Incidentally, a Kardashian baby born in late 2016 was named Dream, so “Dream” itself may see a boost in usage in 2016 or 2017.)

Update, Mar. 2024: Here’s one more dream-name story! It was posted to Toronto’s (now-defunct) website The Baby File in early 2011 by someone named Steven.

[I]n 2003 we did not know what sex our baby would be but since my side has only produced boys for the last 90 yrs, the odds we good it was going to be a boy. So when it came to names we had the most disagreements [with] boys names. Then the night before the birth my wife had a dream in which a room of white bearded elders had said that “her name will be Elowyn”. We had never heard that name before nor was there anything online about it in 2003. The next day we were surprised with birth of a … girl! So we went with the dream and “Elowyn” came into shine over our world.

Sources: 20 Questions: Stacy Keibler Fills Us In, Stacy Keibler Says Picking Daughter’s Name Was ‘Easy Peasy’, Pat Monahan: How We Chose Our Son’s Name

Image: Adapted from Twilight crescent Moon by ESO/G. Brammer under CC BY 4.0.

Another celebrity baby name from a dream

twilight

Actress Elisabeth Rohm dreamed up the name Easton for her daughter in 2008. Singer Fergie dreamed up the name Axl for her son in 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, though, there was a third dreamed-of celebrity baby name that I missed.

Actress Marley Shelton (who played Wendy Peffercorn in The Sandlot) and film producer Beau Flynn welcomed a baby girl in 2009 and named her West, thanks to a dream:

“My husband actually dreamed seven years ago that we had a daughter, and he was calling her West,” Marley recalls. “I immediately said, ‘If we ever have a daughter, we’re definitely naming her that.'”

Their second daughter, Ruby, was born in 2012.

Do you know of any other dreamed-of celebrity baby names?

Source: “Marley Shelton: Being a mom is the best role I’ve ever had!Life & Style Weekly 11 Nov. 2009.

Image: Adapted from Twilight crescent Moon by ESO/G. Brammer under CC BY 4.0.

Biggest changes in boy name popularity, 2014

Which boy names increased and decreased the most in popularity from 2013 to 2014?

Below are two versions of each list. My version looks at raw number differences and takes all 13,977 boy names on the 2014 list into account. The SSA’s version looks at ranking differences and covers the top 1,000 boy names (roughly).

Biggest Increases

Raw Numbers (Nancy’s list)Rankings (SSA’s list)
1. Oliver, +2,116 babies (7,249 to 9,365)
2. Sebastian, +1,707 (7,530 to 9,237)
3. Logan, +1,256 (12,323 to 13,579)
4. Carter, +1,044 (9,555 to 10,599)
5. Grayson, +996 (5,536 to 6,532)
6. Noah, +965 (18,179 to 19,144)
7. Karter, +929 (1,174 to 2,103)
8. Luke, +885 (9,546 to 10,431)
9. James, +799 (13,502 to 14,301)
10. Theodore, +778 (2,413 to 3,191)
1. Bode, +645 spots (1,428th to 783rd)
2. Axl, +624 (1,474th to 850th)
3. Gannon, +426 (839th to 413th)
4. Bodie, +333 (1,314th to 981st)
5. Royal, +327 (900th to 573rd)
6. Coen, +290 (1,188th to 898th)
7. Anakin, +281 (1,238th to 957th)
8. Killian, +250 (766th to 516th)
9. Reyansh, +226 (1,221st to 995th)
10. Ronin, +219 (773rd to 554th)

Here’s what the SSA says about the rise of Bode: “[It] might have had something to do with the Winter Olympics in early 2014, where Bode Miller continued his outstanding alpine skiing career by collecting his sixth Olympic medal.”

And on the rise of Axl: “[It’s] a nod to both rock legend Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Axl Jack Duhamel, son of Stacy Ann “Fergie” Ferguson and Josh Duhamel.”

Biggest Decreases

Raw Numbers (Nancy’s list)Rankings (SSA’s list)
1. Jayden, -1,834 babies (14,712 to 12,878)
2. Jacob, -1,360 (18,072 to 16,712)
3. Joshua, -997 (11,761 to 10,764)
4. Christian, -905 (9,293 to 8,388)
5. Brayden, -873 (7,412 to 6,539)
6. Justin, -858 (4,849 to 3,991)
7. Tyler, -833 (6,618 to 5,785)
8. Jase, -826 (4,545 to 3,719)
9. Ryan, -824 (9,850 to 9,026)
10. Gavin, -820 (7,402 to 6,582)
1. Bently, -289 spots (902nd to 1,191st)
2. Damion, -262 (856th to 1,118th)
3. Amare, -239 (601st to 840th)
4. Isiah, -234 (824th to 1,058th)
5. Xavi, -198 (930th to 1,128th)
6. Sidney, -187 (958th to 1,145th)
7. Deegan, -180 (961st to 1,141st)
8. Jair, -174 (820th to 994th)
9. Juelz, -165 (908th to 1,073rd)
10. Corban, -156 (979th to 1,135th)

Jase, last year’s biggest raw number increase, is now 8th on the list of decreases. Mason, which topped the list of raw number increases two years in a row (2010 and 2011), is now 18th on the list of decreases. (It was 3rd in 2013.) And Jayden, the trendy name that shot up the charts to become the 4th most popular baby name in the nation in 2010 and 2011, has since fallen to 15th.

Finally, here are the big winners and losers from the last few years:

  • 2013: Jase/Jayceon (biggest increases) and Ethan/Austyn (biggest decreases)
  • 2012: Liam/Major (biggest increases) and Jacob/Braeden (biggest decreases)
  • 2011: Mason (biggest increase) and Jacob (biggest decrease)
  • 2010: Mason (biggest increase) and Joshua (biggest decrease)

Sources: Change in Popularity from 2013 to 2014, Noah and Emma Top Social Security’s List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2014

U.S. Baby Names 2014: Most popular names, Top girl-name debuts, Top boy-name debuts, Biggest girl-name changes, Biggest boy-name changes, Top first letters, Top lengths

Popular baby names in the United States, 2014

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

Emma and Noah were the most popular baby names in the United States in 2014.

Here’s the top 10:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emma, 20799 baby girls
2. Olivia, 19674
3. Sophia, 18490
4. Isabella, 16950
5. Ava, 15586
6. Mia, 13442
7. Emily, 12562
8. Abigail, 11985
9. Madison, 10247
10. Charlotte, 10048
1. Noah, 19144 baby boys
2. Liam, 18342
3. Mason, 17092
4. Jacob, 16712
5. William, 16687
6. Ethan, 15619
7. Michael, 15323
8. Alexander, 15293
9. James, 14301
10. Daniel, 13829

Noah remained the #1 boy name, and Emma replaced Sophia as the #1 girl name.

On the girls’ side, Charlotte replaced Elizabeth (now 14th). Elizabeth hasn’t dipped this low since the late 1970s.

On the boys’ side, James replaced Jayden (now 15th). James was last in the top 10 in the early 1990s.

Here’s the rest of the top 50:

Girl NamesBoy Names
11. Harper, 9564
12. Sofia, 9542
13. Avery, 9517
14. Elizabeth, 9492
15. Amelia, 8727
16. Evelyn, 8692
17. Ella, 8489
18. Chloe, 8469
19. Victoria, 7955
20. Aubrey, 7589
21. Grace, 7554
22. Zoey, 7358
23. Natalie, 7061
24. Addison, 6950
25. Lillian, 6869
26. Brooklyn, 6767
27. Lily, 6727
28. Hannah, 6512
29. Layla, 6428
30. Scarlett, 5965
31. Aria, 5893
32. Zoe, 5828
33. Samantha, 5680
34. Anna, 5639
35. Leah, 5563
36. Audrey, 5531
37. Ariana, 5461
38. Allison, 5440
39. Savannah, 5433
40. Arianna, 5240
41. Camila, 5194
42. Penelope, 5062
43. Gabriella, 5051
44. Claire, 4991
45. Aaliyah, 4850
46. Sadie, 4823
47. Riley, 4761
48. Skylar, 4732
49. Nora, 4708
50. Sarah, 4647
11. Elijah, 13694
12. Benjamin, 13687
13. Logan, 13579
14. Aiden, 13296
15. Jayden, 12878
16. Matthew, 12809
17. Jackson, 12121
18. David, 12078
19. Lucas, 12078
20. Joseph, 11995
21. Anthony, 11490
22. Andrew, 11069
23. Samuel, 10859
24. Gabriel, 10826
25. Joshua, 10764
26. John, 10600
27. Carter, 10599
28. Luke, 10431
29. Dylan, 10350
30. Christopher, 10278
31. Isaac, 9868
32. Oliver, 9365
33. Henry, 9350
34. Sebastian, 9237
35. Caleb, 9143
36. Owen, 9100
37. Ryan, 9026
38. Nathan, 8902
39. Wyatt, 8812
40. Hunter, 8759
41. Jack, 8685
42. Christian, 8388
43. Landon, 8180
44. Jonathan, 8035
45. Levi, 7958
46. Jaxon, 7635
47. Julian, 7611
48. Isaiah, 7530
49. Eli, 7428
50. Aaron, 7334

On the girls’ side, Ariana, Penelope, Skylar and Nora (previously ranked 54th, 56th, 73rd and 82nd) are new to the top 50. They replaced Hailey, Kaylee, Alexis and Nevaeh (now ranked 51st, 52nd, 64th and 65th).

On the boys’s side, Oliver and Aaron (previously ranked 52nd and 51st) are new to the top 50. They replaced Brayden and Gavin (now ranked 62nd and 60th).

The biggest jumps within the top 50 were Scarlett (+12 spots), Sebastian (+11) and Aria (+9).

The biggest drops within the top 50 were Aaliyah (-10), Christian (-7), Ryan (-7) and Nathan (-7).

Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Aranza jumped an amazing 3,625 spots on the girls’ side to number 607, from number 4,232 in 2013. The Latin soap opera “Por siempre mi amor” was aired on Univision from 2013 to 2015.  The show featured a young lead character named Aranza, and obviously had its effect on naming trends last year.

Bode raced ahead 645 spots, from number 1,428 in 2013 to number 783 in 2014.  This might have had something to do with the Winter Olympics in early 2014, where Bode Miller continued his outstanding alpine skiing career by collecting his sixth Olympic medal.  Not only is he the most successful male American alpine skier of all time, he is considered by many to be an American hero.

The second fastest riser for boys was Axl, a nod to both rock legend Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses and Axl Jack Duhamel, son of Stacy Ann “Fergie” Ferguson and Josh Duhamel.  For girls, Montserrat, the lead character in a very popular Latin soap opera, was number two, joined by another Monserrat (spelled just one letter differently) at number three.  

More posts on the new names coming soon!

U.S. Baby Names 2014: Most popular names, Top girl-name debuts, Top boy-name debuts, Biggest girl-name changes, Biggest boy-name changes, Top first letters, Top lengths

Sources: SSA, Noah and Emma Top Social Security’s List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2014 – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)