Which boy names decreased in usage the most from 2020 to 2021?
Here’s a table of the fastest-falling boy names of 2021. On the left are the top 25 decreases in terms of absolute numbers of babies, and on the right are the top 25 decreases in terms of relative numbers of babies.
Rank | Boy name | Absolute fall | Boy name | Relative fall |
1 | Mason | -1,035 | Dontavious | -78% |
2 | Alexander | -880 | Karder | -75% |
3 | Jacob | -860 | Azarius | -74% |
4 | Michael | -742 | Daelan | -74% |
5 | Ethan | -717 | Daijon | -73% |
6 | Matthew | -685 | Alante | -72% |
7 | Connor | -650 | Jafari | -72% |
8 | Ryan | -613 | Kova | -72% |
9 | Hunter | -595 | Dasan | -71% |
10 | William | -525 | Issiah | -71% |
11 | Joshua | -509 | Aldair | -70% |
12 | Emmanuel | -491 | Makbel | -70% |
13 | Jaxson | -489 | Kyre | -69% |
14 | Christian | -487 | Joaopedro | -69% |
15 | Colton | -477 | Khiro | -69% |
16 | Andrew | -466 | Kix | -69% |
17 | Brayden | -452 | Naoki | -69% |
18 | Jaxon | -440 | Carrick | -68% |
19 | Karter | -434 | Feliciano | -68% |
20 | Carson | -430 | Drexel | -67% |
21 | Elijah | -428 | Dairon | -67% |
22 | Benjamin | -418 | Marken | -67% |
23 | Daniel | -411 | Amarri | -67% |
24 | Kobe | -399 | Shyheim | -67% |
25 | Carter | -389 | Braxxton* | -65% |
*Also at -65% was Montavious.
Kobe was 2020’s largest absolute increase by a good margin. (The second name on that list, Theodore, broke into the top 10 in 2021.)
Here are the boy names that saw the steepest dives out of the data (i.e., to below 5 instances of usage) in 2021:
- given to 26 babies in 2020: Burhanuddin
- given to 20 babies in 2020: Bader
- given to 18 babies in 2020: Hyatt, Reylan
- given to 17 babies in 2020: Abdelrahman
- given to 16 babies in 2020: Kymeir
Do you have thoughts/insights about any of the above names?
Source: SSA
Image: Adapted from Fall (6282684630) by Kenny Louie under CC BY 2.0.
[Latest update: Feb. 2024]