How popular is the baby name Seth 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 Seth.

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Popularity of the baby name Seth


Posts that mention the name Seth

What gave the baby name Seth a boost in 1999?

The character Seth from the movie "City of Angels" (1998)
Seth from “City of Angels“

The paranormal romance City of Angels was released in movie theaters in April of 1998.

The film’s main character, Seth (played by Nicolas Cage), was an angel who helped dying humans transition to the next life.

While doing his work in a Los Angeles hospital, Seth took an interest in heart surgeon Maggie Rice (played by Meg Ryan). He made himself visible (and audible) to her, so that they could communicate with one another, and the pair soon fell in love. Seth ultimately decided to give up his immortality in order to live as a human with Maggie.

City of Angels was a success at the box office and, in 1999, the name Seth was the fastest-rising boy name in the country:

  • 2001: 6,223 baby boys named Seth (rank: 68th)
  • 2000: 6,717 baby boys named Seth (rank: 63rd)
  • 1999: 6,304 baby boys named Seth (rank: 65th)
  • 1998: 4,587 baby boys named Seth (rank: 86th)
  • 1997: 4,043 baby boys named Seth (rank: 97th)

The name reached peak usage one year later.

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Seth in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Seth

The brief-but-steady rise of the name Maggie that began in the late ’90s may have been kicked off by the movie as well:

  • 2000: 1,614 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1999: 1,423 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1998: 1,238 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1997: 1,054 baby girls named Maggie
  • 1996: 1,103 baby girls named Maggie

And one of Seth’s angelic friends, Cassiel (played by Andre Braugher), also had an impact on names. Despite the fact that the character was male, Cassiel debuted in as a girl name in the U.S. baby name data in 1999.

What are your thoughts on the name Seth? (Do you like it more or less than Cassiel?)

P.S. Coincidentally, the movie Universal Soldier: The Return, which came out in mid-1999, also featured characters named Seth and Maggie.

P.P.S. The Goo Goo Dolls’ power ballad “Iris” [vid], which was written for the City of Angels soundtrack, reached #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in December of 1998. Though the name Iris was not mentioned in either the song or the film — vocalist Johnny Rzeznik randomly chose the song’s title after spotting Iris DeMent‘s name in a magazine — the usage of baby name Iris did see an uptick in usage in the late ’90s.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of City of Angels

Popular baby names in Gibraltar, 2024

Flag of Gibraltar
Flag of Gibraltar

Last year, the British overseas territory of Gibraltar welcomed 331 babies — 148 baby girls and 183 baby boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia for girls and Noah/Thomas (tie) for boys.

Here are Gibraltar’s top girl names and top boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 5 baby girls
  2. Emilia, 4
  3. Matilda and Zara, 3 each (tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah and Thomas, 5 baby boys each (tie)
  2. Luca and Sebastian, 4 each (tie)
  3. Leon, Liam, Oliver, Ryan, Theo, and Tommy, 3 each (6-way tie)

The name Jamie was also given to three babies, but my source didn’t include much information on gender, so I don’t know if these three babies were boys, girls, or a mix of both.

The 36 names given to two babies each were Addison, Alexander, Annabelle, Arabella, Ariana, Axel, Celine, Charles, Emily, Emma, Enzo, Evan, George, Hugo, Jacob, Jesse, Julia, Kai, Kylian, Leo, Lucia, Luna, Maisie, Mia, Michael, Mila, Nicolas, Riley, Robyn, Romeo, Romy, Salma, Sofia, Stella, Thiago, and Zack.

And the 200+ names bestowed just once in Gibraltar last year were…

Adah, Adam, Adonis, Aiden, Aidon, Ajay, Alba, Albert, Aleia, Alesia, Alessandro, Alice, Alistair, Amara, Amber, Amelia, Amina, Amine, Amoura, Ana, Anas, Anaya, Andrew, Antonio, Archie, Aria, Arianna, Arley, Arlo, Arthur, Ava, Aya, Ayla, Azaria, Bella, Billy, Blake, Bodhi, Brenda, Caleb, Callie, Camden, Cara, Catharine, Cecilia, Charlie, Charlotte, Christian, Cleo, Connor, Cora, Danah, Daniella, Darcie, Darcy, Delilah, Duyna, Dylan, Edward, Eladio, Elena, Elia, Elian, Elias, Ella, Elliot, Ellis, Elowyn, Elton, Eric, Esmae, Esteban, Everleigh, Evie, Ezra, Frankie, Freya, Furkan, Gabriella, Geremiah, Gia, Gigi, Giorgia, Giorgio, Grace, Gracie, Hadley, Halo, Hannah, Haroun, Harper, Harry, Haven, Henry, Hudson, Ian, Inaaya, Inaya, Isabella, Isadora, Isla, Islam, Ivy, Jack, Jae, Jake, James, Jason, Javier, Jax, Jay, Jaylan, Joylisa, Jude, Jules, Kaine, Kallie, Katie, Kenzie, Kenzo, Khylo, Koby, Kody, Lara, Laurie, Lee, Lewis, Lilliana, Liya, Lorena, Louis, Luciano, Luke, Maeve, Manxin, Marcel, Martin, Mason, Matthew, Max, Milan, Millie, Mollie, Moshe, Mya, Myla, Naia, Naiomi, Naira, Nariah, Nellie, Niall, Nicola, Nylah, Osayd, Peter, Posie, Rachel, Rafaella, Ralfs, Ramy, Rayan, Reign, Reuven, Rian, Rina, Rio, Roan, Robbie, Robert, Roman, Rosa, Rose, Rotem, Ruairi, Ruben, Ruhe, Rupert, Sarah, Scarlett, Sean, Seth, Shashana, Shivika, Sophia, Sophie, Spencer, Sunny, Sykes, Talia, Tassim, Theodore, Tiana, Timothy, Tobias, Tristan, Tyler, Valentina, Victor, Yaakov, Zachary, Zayd, Zoe, Zyna, Zyon

Finally, here are Gibraltar’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Source: “Thomas, Noah & Olivia the most popular baby names in 2024.” GBC News 25 Mar. 2025.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Gibraltar (public domain)

How will the Paris Olympics affect the baby name Ilona?

The Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower in Paris

The Paris Olympics gave us dozens of interesting Olympian names (e.g., Hezly, Mijaín, Arisa, Mondo) to talk about, but the one I’m most interested in right now is Ilona.

Ilona Maher (pronounced ih-LOH-nah MAHR) was part of the U.S. Women’s Olympic Rugby Sevens team that won bronze in dramatic fashion on July 30.

Perhaps more importantly, Ilona Maher is very popular on social media. She has over 3 million followers on Instagram and over 2 million on TikTok.

She’s also been spotlighted by a number mainstream media outlets, such as Time, People, and CNN. She even appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers a week ago.

What really caught my eye, though, were the name-related comments on one of Ilona’s recent IG posts — the one in which she posed with swimmer Katie Ledecky.

Here’s one of the comments:

Instagram comment

And another:

Instagram comment

Currently, the name Ilona is being given to about 20 baby girls per year in the U.S.:

  • 2023: 17 baby girls named Ilona
  • 2022: 22 baby girls named Ilona
  • 2021: 19 baby girls named Ilona
  • 2020: 24 baby girls named Ilona

Do you think we’ll see a noticeable increase in usage in 2024, thanks to Ilona Maher?

P.S. Maher mentioned in this TikTok video that her mother Mieneke, who is Dutch, pronounces her first name ee-LOH-nah.

Update, Sept. 8, 2024: Ilona Maher will be one of the celebrity contestants on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.

Sources: Ilona Maher – Wikipedia, SSA

Top image: Adapted from Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower 2024 (1) by Ibex73 under CC BY 4.0.

Popular baby names in Northern Ireland (UK), 2023

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Northern Ireland — which was partitioned from the rest of Ireland more than a century ago — is a constituent country of the United Kingdom (along with England, Scotland, and Wales).

What were the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland last year? Isla and Noah.

Here are the country’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Isla, 147 baby girls – pronounced IE-la
  2. Fiadh, 138 – pronounced FEE-a
  3. Grace, 137
  4. Emily, 136
  5. Olivia, 126
  6. Lily, 108
  7. Ella, 97
  8. Aoife, 94 – pronounced EE-fa
  9. Amelia, 92
  10. Freya, 90
  11. Charlotte, 87
  12. Annie, 84 (tie)
  13. Sophie, 84 (tie)
  14. Anna, 83
  15. Eabha, 79 – pronounced EY-va
  16. Ellie, 77
  17. Sophia, 76
  18. Evie, 74
  19. Ava, 73
  20. Maisie, 70
  21. Clodagh, 66 – pronounced KLOH-da
  22. Mia, 63 (tie)
  23. Sadie, 63 (tie)
  24. Rosie, 62 (tie)
  25. Ruby, 62 (tie)
  26. Ivy, 60
  27. Molly, 59
  28. Cara, 57 (4-way tie)
  29. Elsie, 57 (4-way tie)
  30. Lottie, 57 (4-way tie)
  31. Meabh, 57 (4-way tie) – pronounced mayv
  32. Zara, 56
  33. Aria, 54
  34. Erin, 53
  35. Ada, 52
  36. Hannah, 51
  37. Saoirse, 50 – pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha
  38. Bonnie, 48
  39. Cora, 47 (4-way tie)
  40. Isabella, 47 (4-way tie)
  41. Lucy, 47 (4-way tie)
  42. Phoebe, 47 (4-way tie)
  43. Katie, 46 (tie)
  44. Niamh, 46 (tie) – pronounced neev or NEE-iv
  45. Rhea, 45 (tie)
  46. Willow, 45 (tie)
  47. Rose, 44
  48. Sofia, 42
  49. Daisy, 41 (tie)
  50. Sienna, 41 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 152 baby boys
  2. Jack, 146
  3. James, 131
  4. Cillian, 128 – pronounced KIL-ee-an
  5. Charlie, 123
  6. Leo, 119
  7. Oisin, 116 – pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen
  8. Oliver, 114
  9. Luca, 108 (tie)
  10. Theo, 108 (tie)
  11. Tommy, 105
  12. Thomas, 103
  13. Jude, 93
  14. Arthur, 91
  15. Alfie, 85
  16. Daniel, 84
  17. Daithi, 82 – pronounced DAH-hee
  18. Harry, 77
  19. Ethan, 74
  20. Caleb, 73
  21. Finn, 71
  22. Henry, 70
  23. Ezra, 67 (tie)
  24. Jacob, 67 (tie)
  25. George, 66 (tie)
  26. Oscar, 66 (tie)
  27. Archie, 64 (3-way tie)
  28. Isaac, 64 (3-way tie)
  29. Ollie, 64 (3-way tie)
  30. Ronan, 63
  31. Lorcan, 62
  32. Reuben, 61 (tie)
  33. Shea, 61 (tie)
  34. Fionn, 60 (tie)
  35. Rory, 60 (tie)
  36. Darragh, 59
  37. Rian, 57
  38. Conor, 55 (tie)
  39. Freddie, 55 (tie)
  40. Arlo, 53 (tie)
  41. Patrick, 53 (tie)
  42. Luke, 52 (tie)
  43. Tom, 52 (tie)
  44. Jonah, 51 (tie)
  45. Odhran, 51 (tie) – pronounced OH-rawn
  46. Joshua, 50
  47. Max, 49 (tie)
  48. Theodore, 49 (tie)
  49. Michael, 47
  50. Mason, 46 (tie)
  51. Teddy, 46 (tie)

The names that qualified as the “top climbers” of 2023 were…

  • Rebecca, Rhea, Aurora, and Raya (for girls), and
  • Leon, Donnacha, Albie, and Seth (for boys).

And here’s a selection of uncommon names that were given to just three babies each:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Aizal, Blathnaid, Colleen, Dianaimh, Everly, Georgina, Helen, Ivie, Juniper, Keeley, Laney, Meabha, Neala, Orlagh, Paisley, Searlaith, Tillie, Vera, YasmineAngus, Barney, Connlan, Darren, Ewan, Finbarr, Gearoid, Hamish, Jameson, Kieran, Lughan, Milan, Ned, Orhan, Paraic, Ruaidhri, Scott, Tate, Zayn

What about middle names? The top picks for the middle spot were…

  • Rose, Grace, Mary, Elizabeth, and Marie (for girls), and
  • James, John, Patrick, William, and Thomas (for boys).

Finally, here are Northern Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Source: Baby Names 2023 | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

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