Baby Name: Morgan

Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2015!

Quick disclaimer: Some of these names were already on the rise. Others were likely influenced by multiple pop culture events/people (not just the one listed). So I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence for yourself.

Adaline, +737 [ranked 11th on the list of raw-number increases for girl names]

• Up from 164 baby girls in 2014 to 901 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie The Age of Adaline (2015).

Abel, +659 [ranked 12th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]

• Up from 2,557 baby boys in 2014 to 3,216 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: singer Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (stage name The Weeknd).

Finn, +301 [ranked 47th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]

• Up from 1,580 baby boys in 2014 to 1,881 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Taya, +180

• Up from 93 baby girls in 2014 to 273 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie American Sniper (2014).

Lucille, +142

• Up from 970 baby girls in 2014 to 1,112 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the death of B. B. King (whose guitars were all called “Lucille”).

Margot, +126

• Up from 377 baby girls in 2014 to 503 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: actress Margot Robbie.

Atticus, +106

• Up from 852 baby boys in 2014 to 958 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the book Go Set a Watchman (2015).

Canaan, +104

• Up from 179 baby girls in 2014 to 283 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the news of Oprah Winfrey’s son, Canaan.

Hakeem, +87

• Up from 72 baby boys in 2014 to 159 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Annalise, +78

• Up from 699 baby boys in 2014 to 777 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show How to Get Away with Murder (2014-).

Lola, +57

• Up from 1,386 baby girls in 2014 to 1,443 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Arlo, +54

• Up from 518 baby boys in 2014 to 572 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie The Good Dinosaur (2015).

Carter, +53

• Up from 10,674 baby boys in 2014 to 10,727 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: unsure (suggested in the comments).

Carli, +36

• Up from 110 baby girls in 2014 to 146 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Carli Lloyd.

Margo, +36

• Up from 152 baby girls in 2014 to 188 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Paper Towns (2015). Or, of course, Margot Robbie.

Bjorn, +35

• Up from 63 baby boys in 2014 to 98 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Roland, +32

• Up from 437 baby boys in 2014 to 469 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie By The Sea (2015).

Taraji, +30

• Up from 200 baby girls in 2014 to 230 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Adonis, +29

• Up from 327 baby boys in 2014 to 356 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Creed (2015).

Sullivan (as a boy name), +29

• Up from 631 baby boys in 2014 to 660 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: actor Sullivan Stapleton.

Joy, +28

• Up from 692 baby girls in 2014 to 720 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Inside Out (2015).

Kylo, +27

• Up from 8 baby boys in 2014 to 35 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Alex (as a girl name), +25

• Up from 160 baby girls in 2014 to 185 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Alex Morgan.

Rebel, +25 (as a girl name), -3 (as a boy name)

• Up from 58 baby girls in 2014 to 83 in 2015.
• Down from 48 baby boys in 2014 to 45 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the Confederate flag debate.
• Update, 5/12/16: The state-by-state data was just released. Of the 83 baby girls named Rebel, 12 were born in Texas, 9 in California, 8 in Arkansas and 6 in Oklahoma. Of the 45 boys, 7 were born in Texas and 5 in Tennessee.

Meghan, +24

• Up from 214 baby girls in 2014 to 238 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Meghan Klingenberg.

Lucious, +18

• Up from 19 baby boys in 2014 to 37 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Christie, +15

• Up from 31 baby girls in 2014 to 46 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Christie Rampone.

Tobin (as a girl name), re-entered with 14

• After an absence, returned to the list with 14 baby girls.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Tobin Heath.

Alessia, +13

• Up from 200 baby girls in 2014 to 213 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: singer Alessia Cara.

Lyon, +13

• Up from 29 baby boys in 2014 to 42 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Kelsea, +12

• Up from 35 baby girls in 2014 to 47 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: country singer Kelsea Ballerini.

Gigi, +11

• Up from 27 baby girls in 2014 to 38 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: model Gigi Hadid.

Ragnar, +11

• Up from 19 baby boys in 2014 to 30 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Rollo, re-entered with 10

• After an absence, returned to the list with 10 baby boys.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Vikings.

Max (as a girl name), +9

• Up from 14 baby girls in 2014 to 23 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: Maxima “Max” Chan Zuckerberg, daughter of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

Poe, re-entered with 9

• After an absence, returned to the list with 9 baby boys.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Denali, +8 (as a boy name) and +7 (as a girl name)

• Up from 20 baby boys in 2014 to 28 in 2015.
• Up from 55 baby girls in 2014 to 62 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the renaming of Denali.

Bindi, re-entered with 8

• After an absence, returned to the list with 8 baby girls.
• Pop culture influence: Dancing with the Stars contestant Bindi Irwin.

Eilis, re-entered with 6

• After an absence, returned to the list with 6 baby girls.
• Pop culture influence: the movie Brooklyn (2015).

Trai, re-entered with 6

• After an absence, returned to the list with 6 baby boys.
• Pop culture influence: the TV show Empire (2015-).

Becky, +5

• Up from 53 baby girls in 2014 to 58 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: soccer player Becky Sauerbrunn.

Bernie, +5

• Up from 6 baby boys in 2014 to 11 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Saint, +5

• Up from 32 baby boys in 2014 to 37 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: Saint West, son of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Serra, +5

• Up from 12 baby girls in 2014 to 17 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: the canonization of Junipero Serra.

Taron, +4

• Up from 31 baby boys in 2014 to 35 in 2015.
• Pop culture influence: actor Taron Egerton.

Names that went down:

• Rooney (as a girl name), -2
• Quentin, -4
• Hope, -5
• Viola, -6
• Mars, -7
• Jedi, -8
• Hamilton, -9
• Misty, -10
• Creed, -11
• Kelley, -11
• Selma, -20
• Rami, -23
• Walker, -37
• Ali, -49
• Jai (as a boy name), -53
• Dixie, -58
• Julie, -86
• Abby, -120
• Vanessa, -198
• Megan, -201
• Morgan, -328
• Lauren, -409

Names not on the SSA’s list in 2015:

• Aslaug
• Bryshere
• Cookie
• Dameron
• DuVernay
• Empire
• Furiosa
• Halsey
• Jeralean
• Junipero
• Jussie
• Lagertha
• Rey (as a girl name)
• Sonoya
• Trump

Did any of these surprise you?

P.S. Some of the names from the 2014 game that have started/continued to do well: Hazel, Amal, Tauriel, and Wyatt (as a girl name). Elsa and Anna, on the other hand, both saw drops in usage.