How popular is the baby name Declan 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 Declan.

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Popularity of the baby name Declan


Posts that mention the name Declan

Biggest changes in boy name popularity, 2011

Which boy names saw the biggest increases in popularity from 2010 to 2011? How about the biggest decreases?

According to the numbers, Mason was the winner. (Same as last year, in fact.)

  1. Mason, +4597 babies (rank change: 12th to 2nd)
  2. Liam, +2442 babies (rank change: 30th to 15th)
  3. Bentley, +1774 babies (rank change: 100th to 75th)
  4. Axel, +1059 babies (rank change: 187th to 132nd)
  5. Easton, +1037 babies (rank change: 145th to 102nd)
  6. Jace, +1020 babies (rank change: 146th to 106th)
  7. Ayden, +968 babies (rank change: 79th to 70th)
  8. Declan, +891 babies (rank change: 274th to 177th)
  9. Blake, +885 babies (rank change: 87th to 73rd)
  10. Jaxon, +878 babies (rank change: 99th to 86th)

The loser? Jacob:

  1. Jacob, -1858 babies (rank change: 1st to 1st)
  2. Joshua, -1754 babies (rank change: 11th to 14th)
  3. Tyler, -1649 babies (rank change: 34th to 38th)
  4. Ethan, -1389 babies (rank change: 2nd to 7th)
  5. Christopher, -1318 babies (rank change: 13th to 21st)
  6. Angel, -1253 babies (rank change: 42nd to 52nd)
  7. Anthony, -1252 babies (rank change: 10th to 11th)
  8. Evan, -1111 babies (rank change: 36th to 40th)
  9. Alexander, -1110 babies (rank change: 6th to 8th)
  10. Nicholas, -1089 babies (rank change: 37th to 42nd)

Last year’s loser, Joshua, was this year’s runner-up.

And here’s something confusing for you: boy names that decreased in usage but increased in rank include James, Gavin, Caleb, Luke, Charles, Brayden and Kaleb.

Baby names that became more popular in 2011

The SSA has re-ordered the top 500 (or so) most popular baby names by rank change. According to these lists, the boy and girl names that increased the most in terms of rank from 2010 to 2011 were these:

Girl names:

  1. Briella, +394 (891st to 497th)
  2. Angelique, +247 (627th to 380th)
  3. Aria, +196 (353rd to 157th)
  4. Mila, +190 (364th to 174th)
  5. Elsie, +165 (645th to 480th)
  6. Nylah, +149 (606th to 457th)
  7. Raelynn, +133 (629th to 496th)
  8. Brynlee, +130 (509th to 379th)
  9. Olive, +127 (543rd to 416th)
  10. June, +126 (596th to 470th)
  11. Bristol, +126 (560th to 434th)

Boy names:

  1. Brantley, +416 (736th to 320th)
  2. Iker, +267 (646th to 379th)
  3. Maximiliano, +173 (462nd to 289th)
  4. Zaiden, +131 (620th to 489th)
  5. Kamden, +109 (557th to 448th)
  6. Barrett, +106 (541st to 435th)
  7. Archer, +101 (548th to 447th)
  8. Declan, +97 (274th to 177th)
  9. Atticus, +96 (558th to 462nd)
  10. Nico, +95 (591st to 496th)

To know which names rose the most overall, check out my follow-up posts Biggest Changes in Girl Name Popularity, 2011 and Biggest Changes in Boy Name Popularity, 2011.

Update: I found info on some of the fastest-climbing names in the SSA’s press release:

Briella:

The fastest riser on the girls’ list may come from Briella Calafiore, the blonde reality star hairdresser from cable TV’s “Jerseylicious” and its spinoff, “Glam Fairy.”

(There’s seriously a show called “Jerseylicious”?)

Brantley:

For the boys, there could be some controversy over Brantley – depending on whether you are a fan of college football or country music. Arguments could be made that the popularity of the name comes from John Brantley, the quarterback for perennial powerhouse The University of Florida, or from Brantley Gilbert, the singer with the number one country hit “Country Must Be Country Wide.” If you like both football and country music, you’re a winner either way!

Iker:

The second fastest riser on the boys’ list is Iker. There may be some international influence here—Iker Casillas Fernandez is the well-known goalkeeper for both Real Madrid and the Spanish National Team. In 2010, Iker led Spain to a World Cup championship, just in time to influence the 2011 baby names list.

Angelique:

On the girls’ side, Angelique is the second biggest climber, but she may have gotten there with some magic. Angelique is the character name of a witch from the cult favorite “Dark Shadows.” She worked her witchcraft just in time for the blockbuster Hollywood remake of the 1960s TV show.

[Latest update: June 2023]

Baby name story: Declan

Earlier this year, Richard Humphrey of Cannock, Staffordshire, missed the birth of his first child. Why? Because he’d decided to be a contestant on British gameshow Ant & Dec’s Push the Button instead.

Richard’s girlfriend, Stacey Richards, gave birth to their son just minutes before the live show began. Host Declan Donnelly made the announcement on-air: “Rich has just become a dad. At two minutes to seven Stacey gave birth to a little baby boy so congratulations.”

Apparently Stacey wasn’t too upset about the incident, as the couple went on to name their son Declan after Mr. Donnelly. Richard said, “We both thought it was a good idea and there is already an Anthony in the family. Dec was a great bloke so we thought why not do it.”

Source: Mother gives birth as partner wins £62,000 on TV’s Push The Button… and they named the baby DEC

Baby names needed: Boy and girl names for Beatrix’s twin siblings

A reader named Marissa, who has a daughter named Beatrix Penelope (nn Bea), is expecting twins–one boy, one girl. She’s got their middle names narrowed down (Anthony or Alexander for the baby boy, Daphne or Jillian for the baby girl) but she’d like some help with their first names.

Here’s what she’s looking for in a boy name:

For the boy I’d like names that are two syllables long and start and end in a consonant. So far I like Robert, Patrick, Daniel and Fabian. The only one he likes is Fabian, but we’re still not sure.

And here’s what she’s looking for in a girl name:

For the girl I’d like names that are three or four syllables long, and start and end in a vowel. So far I like Anastasia, Ophelia, Elena and Ursula, but he likes none of them.

The babies’ last name will sound something like Thisbe.

Here are some of the boy names I came up with:

Calvin
Clement
Chester
Conrad
Curtis
David
Declan
Dexter
Duncan
Felix		Franklin
Holden
Howard
Jasper
Kenneth
Lincoln
Linus
Lucas
Malcolm
Martin		Maxwell
Miles
Mitchell
Nathan
Nelson
Nigel
Nolan
Philip
Raymond
Reuben		Roland
Roman
Silas
Simon
Stuart
Thomas
Victor
Vincent
William
Winston

And here are some ideas for the girl name:

Acantha
Adela
Adelina
Adriana
Agatha
Alexandra
Alexina
Alicia
Allegra
Althea		Amelia
Annabella
Andrea
Angela
Antonia
Arabella
Araminta
Athena
Augusta
Aurelia		Aurora
Azalea
Eleanora
Eliana
Elisa
Eloisa
Estella
Eugenia
Eulalia
Imelda		Iona
Irena/Irina
Isabella
Isidora
Octavia
Odelia
Odessa
Olivia
Olympia
Ottilia

Which of the above do you like best with Beatrix? (And which ones make the best boy/girl pairings, do you think?)

What other names would you suggest to Marissa?