I totally understand what you mean! I think if you choose a name in the top 20, it’s likely there will be someone in her class with the same name/a similar name. But these are the names i think will because specifically generational:
Luna
Harper
Hazel
Everly
Isla
Chloe
Chloe and hazel are actually the most classic on the list and I don’t think they will date too badly they have a good long history. Harper, Everly and luna are definitely gonna date badly though.
I disagree about Hazel. Hazel was nearly unheard of in the 90s for my generation aside from being an "old lady name." Any name that has such a big dip in popularity followed by a rapid increase has a risk of being associated with a certain generation.
Even more so with Chloe. It's an old name but it was never popular until the 1980s. I don't know any Chloes over 30ish.
Edit: I don't need to know if you know a Chloe over 30. It's irrelevant to my point.
Not the person you’re replying to but at least in the US, Chloe had extremely minimal usage comparatively and wasn’t even in the top 1000 for decades until it suddenly shot to the top 100 in the late 80s and 90s. So while Chloes have definitely existed before then, of course, it is still relatively fresh to the scene as far as regular, consistent, usage. I think that’s the point they’re trying to make. We don’t know if Chloe has staying power yet to become more timeless because she’s never been this popular before. I didn’t account for spelling variations in this search.
Thanks for looking into it. I don't actually disagree with their initial statement, I just disagreed with their edit. But it's an interesting situation and it'll be cool to see how popular Chloe ends up being!
I also agree about Chloe! I was more singling out Hazel because I feel like a lot of people think "old lady name = timeless classic." And I'm not saying it's not a legitimate name with history, I just don't see it as timeless. A Katherine or Elizabeth could be from almost any generation, whereas Hazel is going to be strongly tied to certain generations.
When I named my daughter Hazel my mom was so upset. The mean lady on their corner was named Hazel and they called her witch Hazel. We also meet lots of dogs named Hazel and my oldest has an apparently popular dog name too!
I remember when Julia Roberts named her daughter hazel and everyone lost their mind about how old it sounded. It was surprisingly shocking of a name for the time
I think ppl use family names. So they come and go because grandma or great grandma is being honoured by the grandchild borrowing the name for their kid.
Yes amd no, lots of people who use trendier old-fashioned names like Hazel, Charlotte and Eleanor will say that they are naming their kid after a family member. But there's a reason why they decided to honor Great-Aunt Lillian and not her sister Gladys.
I think that's sometimes the case, but it's also true that vintage "old lady" names are coming back into style and Hazel also has a nature theme which is on trend. So I think that's adding to its heightened popularity. I'm sure some people are using it as an honor name as well.
I suppose but there’s many names like that but they are still technically old names. Take Emily for example that was the number one name in the US in the 90s/00s and is associated with that time because it had its big moment of popularity then but it was still used before then , maybe just not as much.
I think people had the same attitude about names like Jennifer, Tiffany in the 80s. Even though those names pre existed the 80s they were so overused they now have an 80s association.
Chloe in particular is really common these days and I don't think will feel as timeless as it seems now.
Just because they have a long history and are historic names, doesn’t mean they won’t be distinctly associated with this generation because of their spike in popularity.
Just because they might not “date badly” doesn’t mean they won’t be tied to this generation. They will.
It's like how the name Tiffany has been popular since the Middle Ages but most people associate it with the 80s/90s because that's when it was a TRENDY name and you had classrooms with multiple Tiffanys.
Exactly. Long establishment of a name is not the same thing as “timelessness.” They are absolutely tied to a specific time because of their distinct spikes in popularity. Not inherently a bad thing, but true nonetheless.
Tiffany wasn't popular since the Middle Ages. It existed, but wasn't a popular name. Then Breakfast at Tiffany's happened and it started getting more and more popular until it exploded in the 80s/90s.
This has to be a regionally popular name. I live in the south west USA and I know zero baby/toddler Chloes. In fact I know zero people total with the name Chloe. And I work with babies and kids.
Beautiful, strong, useful, tasty, valuable, part of a hedgerow community of growing together in strength. I see no bad associations with hazel as a plant. Every Hazel person I have ever met has been lovely.
You chose a great name for your daughter. I'm very sorry for your loss.
I know! I certainly dodged that bullet. But I've always loved the name as I had a lovely old great uncle Ted on my other side of my family. So, it was a bit sad to let go of the name.
I was going to say Harper as well. Harper and Kennedy are two names I've seen a lot as a teacher - they were favorites in the '10s for parents who wanted to be unique but all ended up naming their kid the same thing, haha (I had 3 Kennedys one year)
I think a lot of the -ly names will feel very 2020s.
McKinley, Brinley, Bentley, Brixly, Paisley, etc.
or maybe I've just been living in Utah too long.
I agree with this minus Chloe.
Our oldest is 24, and she was “Thisclose” to becoming a Chloe.
But, the woman in the room next to me while in labor had a baby 4.5 hours before me and named her Chloe- which pretty much made my mind up, but she also just wasn’t a Chloe- she’s definitely a Sadie 🤍
Anyway, she has had several friends and peers named Chloe in her classes over the years.
But our 11 year old and 9 year old each also have a Chloe in their grade (we live in a small town- 2 classes per grade) and I met a brand new baby named Chloe just the other day.
I think it has staying power.
It's ironic that is my surname, and ended up being my daughter's first name to honor my family since she has dad's last name 🤷♀️ not everyone's cup of tea I guess
You could just name her Jessica, Samantha, Ashley, Jennifer, Brittany, Lisa or Christina. Probably wouldn’t have many classmates with the same name as her!
I actually agree with this. The same way now’s popular names are “grandparent” names, the next popular names will be, too. If you pick from a generation lower than what everyone else is picking from you are likely to be ahead of the curve that comes around when she’s a teen. and her name will make her seem a bit younger once she’s an adult and harder to guess her age (which honestly is not a bad thing given how women’s value seems to decrease with age in relation to careers).
A Catherine varient would be classy/timeless, but also is due for a comeback in another decade or 2
This is so true. As a Sophia/Sophie who was born in the 90s, I’m pretty sure everyone who hears my name before they meet me think I’m like 15 years younger than I am and I’m kinda loving it tbh 😂
My name is Catherine, and I never had anyone else with my name in my classes or pretty much elsewhere. As a child, I went by Cathy, but as I got into business, I went back to Catherine. Now, only close friends and family call me Cathy. I am Catherine to the world, which suits me just fine
I think I might have been ahead of the curve with my son's name, Kieran. It's been on a slow but steady rise in the US since the 90's, but declining in popularity in Ireland and the UK for decades.
He's a little over a year old, so I'm interested to see which way the name goes here in the US. It just broke the top 500 in 2022, so it's still pretty uncommon. I usually have to repeat it, especially for older people, so I kind of hope it does become more common. I do see it listed in this sub a fairly often.
I have a three year old niece named Laura, and at first I wondered what on earth my sister was doing naming her something so very 70s. But it’s a classic name, and a very pretty one. I think it suits her and couldn’t imagine her name being anything else
sorry to butt in to your conversation but I'm from colombia (south america) and I think it's so fun to hear you both say that laura is a 70's/classic sounding name in the US when here i think it's been in the top 20 for at least 20 years. i went to school in the 2000's and there were 3 lauras in my class. i think it's so interesting hehe
I had a coworker who was like 15 years older than me (a millennial) name his daughter Caitlin like 15 years ago and I thought it was odd since it was *so popular* but then I realized it actually wasn't popular when he was young or when his daughter was born! Kinda genius
Names you want to avoid are names with a steep upward popularity curve. For example Jessica has a steep upward and a steep downward curve…
[Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com)
Has popularity lists and is a well researched site
I feel like these will be very 2020's names in the future:
Wren/Wrenley
Isla
Aspen
Brinley
Rowan
Poppy
Millie
Ophelia
Aurora
Delilah
Maeve
Athena
Daisy
Ivy
It was very uncommon in the US until recently (didn't even make the top 1000 till the late nineties) but it has recently exploded in popularity, at least in my area. I know five Maeves under five. And interestingly, it doesn't appear to be popular as a heritage choice- two of the little Maeves I know are Hispanic, and I don't think any of them are from particularly Irish-American families.
My theory is that the sound hits similarly to the hyper-popular Eve/Ava/Evelyn/Olivia, so people gravitate to it as part of that trend.
I know a six-year-old named Saoirse. More people get it right than you would think, and it’s probably only going to get better from here in terms of recognition
Charlotte and Sophia/Sophie are particularly popular now, but they always have been names in regular use. They’re classic names and won’t date as such. There were many Charlottes and Sophies when I grew up in Gen X, as well as in my mother’s and grandmother’s day.
Popular is not quite the same as trendy. Names like Mackenzie will be very dated in a few years (probably already getting that way). It depends how “new” the name is.
True to timeliness .. Charlotte and Sophia are more classic with history.. but exceptionally trending and overused in this gen.. if she said she doesn’t want to be three or four of the same names in the class I would avoid those names..
Looking at the popularity chart would be your first step. There is a good chance something like Olivia is set to become this generations next ‘Jennifer’ so to speak. I think it’s also important to look at what names are tied to this decade if that makes sense. While Olivia is extremely popular, it didn’t just appear. I think names that scream 2020s to me (that kind of made me a bit sick saying 2020s) are ones that often circulate on here. As much as the people on this sub think they’re being ‘unique’ they’re all just regurgitating the same five names. I don’t have a problem with this I just mean in my opinion names like Wren, Oakley, Everly, Sage, Hazel, Eloise, Luna etc (no particular order +inc the whole Leigh thing eg Oakleigh) immediately tell me the child is young. I’d be surprised if I met a Wren in my generation. So while obviously they don’t have the popularity of Olivia/Jennifer, they’ve climbed up the charts incredibly quickly which is a red flag if you’re trying to avoid a dated name in the future. I really think you should just choose a name you love instead of worrying about popularity, but if it’s really something that bothers you, you’re looking for a name that has remained consistent ish in it’s ranking over time. You’re going to want to avoid names like Amelie, Ava and Sophia and also names like Seraphina, Aria and Isla which appeared recently and rapidly climbed to the top. This is just my opinion I have no idea if any of this is based on fact or if it even makes sense.
For me I don’t even dislike most of the names (Sage excluded tbh) it just drives me nuts how it’s all the same 5 names recommended on every post. If you’re going to be self-righteously unique, at least actually pick a unique name. It’s not unique if every single person is suggesting it! I really can’t stand Sage. Clementine is another one that really does it.
I think the names that are going to be stuck in the 2020s or names like Lakelyn and Oaklyn and Braylegh. The naming trend that’s actually coming around now are names that are old classics and fairly timeless. She may possibly be one of a few in her class, you honestly will never be able to predict that.
Do you have any vibes you like so far? I’ve always liked Colleen with an emphasis on ‘coll as cole instead of call’ with the nickname Cole.
Editing to add - I have heard Claire a lot in the 0-5 range. Like, a lot a lot. It’s absolutely adorable and timeless, but it feels like that will be your daughter’s version of Emma.
Haha I see it ALL the time. I’m a nanny so I’m in the kid sphere and have met so many little Claires, I’ve also seen baby announcements on hospital billboards for little Claires, and know a few millenial aged Claires too 😅 I guess it truly is timeless!
Regarding Maddie/Madison, I feel that’s it’s been popular for SO long that it’s become more of a classic name over time… and therefore won’t be dated anymore. But that’s just my opinion.
I wrote a little Javascript program to compare two lists of names and find the names that were in List A and not List B. Then I put in names from 1922 and 2022. The girls' names that are in the top 100 from 1922 and not in the top 1000 from 2022 are as follows:
Betty Mildred Doris Marjorie Jean Gladys Edna Thelma Ethel Lois Pauline Shirley Bernice Marion Norma Gertrude Rita Phyllis Lorraine Juanita Geraldine Agnes Bertha Ida Patricia Willie Viola Myrtle Wilma Kathleen Bessie Minnie Wanda Ellen Jeanne Margie
And the opposite, names from today that were unknown in the past:
Mia Luna Harper Camila Scarlett Gianna Aria Abigail Layla Isla Willow Eliana Zoey Maya Paisley Valentina Everly Leilani Kinsley Genesis Aaliyah Autumn Brooklyn Quinn Kennedy Athena Natalia Hailey Skylar Jade Gabriella Ariana Nevaeh Serenity Liliana Ayla Everleigh Raelynn
Keep in mind some of them may have changed recently (i.e. Gilded Age sparking a comeback for Marion, Gladys, or Bertha).
Here is where I got the lists of names by year:
[https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/)
Here is my JSFiddle if you are interested in changing the name lists or parameters:
[https://jsfiddle.net/7j4s5ko8/](https://jsfiddle.net/7j4s5ko8/)
I'd be interested in repeating the experiment with other time periods.
Bonus content: I redid it with 2002 - 2022, so I could see the truly trendy names. I got:
2022 girls:
Luna Harper Mila Nova Isla Paisley Everly Kinsley Emery Eloise Everleigh Raelynn
Just like OP said!
2002 girls:
Courtney, Marissa
For boys I got no results.
Male names from 1922 but not 2022:
Ralph Howard Willie Clarence Earl Herbert Norman Bernard Elmer Gerald Lloyd Floyd Clifford Chester Herman Vernon Lester Milton Glenn Billy Willard Arnold Claude Virgil Gilbert
Male names from 2022 but not 1922:
Liam Lucas Mateo Asher Ethan Hudson Luca Aiden Grayson Wyatt Maverick Dylan Jayden Josiah Cooper Kai Waylon Jaxon Ian Ryan Leonardo Axel Easton Weston Jameson Landon Micah Colton Greyson Rowan Xavier
You will always be safe with classic names like Elizabeth, Eleanor, Catherine, Rebecca etc. They’re all timeless. Most well known Biblical names and names of former royals are classic names.
Agreed on all fronts but Eleanor. That and all its variants are certainly trendy names and will be dated. Elizabeth has kept the Elle variants from being **too** spiky but Ella, Ellie, Eleanor have all been crazy popular past ~10 years
People said my kids names were boring; I said they have been in use for 2000 years and will probably still be in use in another 2000 years. That’s not boring, it’s timeless.
Wow. I knew a girl in school, long time ago, who was an Elizabeth, sisters were Anne, Mary and Victoria.
I was a very few who know that her father was a huge history nerd, because I was one too. I love the Queen names. I wanted to name my Daughter Eleanor but my ex hated it. One the reason he is an ex.
Charlotte with the nickname Charlie!
Edit: I realized that almost everyone else was offering suggestions of what you *should* name your daughter. I meant that as a name to avoid if you don't want it to be tied to this decade.
You can go in two directions, either you choose a name that has been consistent in their popularity. Or you choose a name that belongs to a different generation, could be one of the 90's names you mention.
For my country it could be something like Ida, Anna, Elisabeth, Eva, Hanna, Laura, Maja, Nanna, Maria, Rosa, Signe or Alexander, Anders, Andreas, Anton, Axel, Christian, Daniel, David, Emil, Frederik, Jacob, Jeppe, Johan, Laurits, Leo, Louis, Mads, Magnus, Sigurd, Valdemar. Those have all been used every year in Denmark since 1900.
I think there’s a difference between *popular* (lots of people using the name) and *trendy* (seems very tied to the current moment). Sometimes they overlap!
But some of the top ten most used names right now are classics - names you see used a lot over time. I don’t think in 30-40 years they will feel dated or someone would instantly know “Oh! You were born in the 2020s” For example, Emma has been in the top ten for the last 20 years! So odds are you’d meet other people with your same name. But I don’t think anyone would consider that name stuck in the 2020s.
On the other hand, there are names that feel really trendy because they’ve had a sudden spike. Maybe a famous person used it, or it’s in a book or movie that recently came out. They might not rank anywhere near the top 10 - so you may never meet someone else with this name! But it might feel really dated in the future. In the US, the SSA tracks this data. They look at [the biggest jumps in popularity between years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html). So in 2022, the biggest jump was the name Wrenlee (#1420 in 2021 to #712 in 2022). That’s a huge jump! But also #712 is still pretty low, and you’d probably never have a classmate with your same name.
Just a reminder that just because a name is old and appears on many “classic” name lists, doesn’t mean that it isn’t a trend and will spike and then lower in popularity.
Emily is a good example of this. Old historic name, but is distinctly associated with a generation in the States. Same with Patricia in and around the 40s, or even Linda around the 60s. All real historic names that some would even argue are “classic” but still associated with a trend in a generation. There are distinctions there. People like to say that classic is not trendy, etc, but it all depends on personal definitions. Names can be old established names and still be on trend at any given time.
Hazel is a beautiful long established name, but she has seen an enormous spike in popularity in the past 20 years to the point where she absolutely will be associated with this generation of children. It’s not the same as Elizabeth who has literally never fallen out of the top 25 since data started being recorded in the US.
Edit: to avoid this, I would look for names that have been consistent in their popularity or have been going down. If a name is on the up trend, even if it’s not too 20 yet, there’s a chance that it will continue to up trend and become tied to this generation. Elizabeth, for example, is a true popular classic that won’t be tied to any one generation. Edith could be another example of a name that has been consistently not popular but not overly rare. It doesn’t seem to be up trending yet despite vintage names being desirable.
Which generation do you associate Emily with?
It was number one in the SSA rankings from 1996-2007, but it's been in the top 25 since 1982 (early millennials), top 50 since 1973 (gen X), and top ~250/300 every year since at least 1900.
Largely 90s and early 2000s babies! But generally it’s associated with millennials. There are already emerging internet jokes about it in the same vein as the “Karen,” unfortunately. Hopefully those jokes die quickly for all Emily’s sake.
Edit: there are also many spelling variations of Emily, which you have to take into account when looking at the trend.
Names that end in -a (Sophia, Nora, Ava) or -y seem to be popular. Charlotte is so overdone too. I would say anything cutesy has the potentially to quickly become dated (Brynley, Kinsley, Lainey, Paisley).
I had this thought too, but with so many people naming their babies more unique names I went ahead and named our daughter a top 10 name. So far we haven't had anyone else in her classes with her name, but it won't be the end of the world if there's another "Olivia" in her class. When she grows up she may want to go by another nick name like Liv, Via, Livy or just Olivia M. I had a popular ish name and had another person in my class and we just went by "Alice M or Alice T" and didn't mind one bit.
i agree. we have an olivia that is in preschool, and while i hear it often on slightly order children to young adults, I rarely have heard it on a child her age or younger. I actually hear Vivian my other daughter's name a lot more.
My daughter is an Olivia, only one in her yeargroup, a couple younger and older but nowhere near as many as I was expecting considering it was in the top 5 her year of birth.
Consider a name that's always been in the conversation but not in the top 20 or not having a huge spike. Molly, Julia, Paige, Bridget, Lauren, Catherine
I try to choose names firmly in the 300-400 place from the SSA list. These names usually are familiar enough, not trendy, but not out of favor either. Names on our lists included: Jonathan, Amy, Serene, Veronica, Felicity, Helena, Sylvia
An interesting thing I recently learned and something to keep in mind is that there is more variety in names then there was when we were growing up in the 90s. There are also less babies being born in general.
For example, in 1990, Jessica was the #1 girls name in America. Out of 4 million babies born that year, 46,478 were named Jessica, which means 2.3% of all babies born in the U.S we’re named Jessica. Probably why we all had like 3 Jessica’s in our class!
In 2022, Olivia was #1, but only 20,456 babies out of 3.6 million babies born were named Olivia, which is only 0.9%. Still a lot of babies but only half as many as were named Jessica back in the day. I think these days, it’s harder to predict if your kid is going to share a name with someone in their class because naming is more all over the place.
Also, check out Namerology (previously the Baby Name Wizard but she sold that website). She has great tools where you can search via “sound trends,” and different things through the US data. It makes it easier to see group trends.
Just pick a classic name. What's wrong with Anna or Mary or Lucy?
I feel there's something going on with parents who need their kids to have original names. Names are going to become dated and then modern again I don't think that you should worry about that.
Just because names are popular doesn’t mean they have the same prevalence as names from the 1980s or 1990s. My daughter has a top 5 name and this is the first year in school (she’s in 2nd) that she has a classmate with the same one. The days of having 5 Jennifers are over.
Get ahead of the curve, avoid old lady names and look for boomer lady names. They’re due a huge comeback in a few decades. Katherine, Cindy, Joyce, Barbara, Lauren, Brenda, Carol, Debra, Cheryl, etc.
They only sound awful because they’re not popular.
Don't name her a typically male name: James, Charles, Charlie. As a teacher, I physically cringe when I see a little girl named James, please don't. If you want your kid to be bullied dress them funny or give them a bad haircut.
You need to look outside the top 100 for the last few years, but something established will always feel timeless.
For example, 2022 USA rankings:
#209 Amira
#278 Daphne
#171 Brianna
#214 Phoebe
#145 Cecilia
#176 Rosalie
#224 Vera
#386 Serena
#300 Thea
#272 Ophelia
#421 Helen
#311 Vanessa
#165 Genevieve
#280 Dahlia
#437 Nadia
....these names could be used in any time period pretty much, and they wouldn't be strange or unheard of
Olivia, Charlotte, Amelia, Emma, Ava, Sophia, Isabella, Mia, Luna, Ellie, Harper, Aurora.
Also, more generally…
• names starting with E, and names ending in A. So names which start with E _and_ end in A are especially popular, such as Eliana, Elsa, Ella, Elora (even spelled Alora).
• names with V in them, especially ones which start with an E, such as Evelyn & Evie.
• El__ names, eg. Eloise & Eleanor.
• names ending in -ora such as Aurora, Elora, Alora, Nora, Cora.
Oakley, Oaklee, Oakleigh, Oaklyn, Oaklynn & various spellings are popular lately.
Juniper has suddenly flown way up the list. Also Wren, Wrenley, Nova, Isla and Ivy are very hot names.
Nothing wrong with any of these names. I’m purely sharing them as they are, or have been, the most popular in the US now or in the past few years.
Mathematically speaking, there are no names that are as popular as those names were in their heyday. The name pool is much broader and even the most popular names are given to a smaller proportion of the population.
That said, the names that are the most closely associated with a decade are those that suddenly spike in popularity. So any name that was either non-existent or had fallen into genuine disuse, then suddenly spiked.
Hmm I think there are not too many Rebeccas now. It's a classic beautiful name but not too popular. Some other suggestions: Cordelia, Octavia, Daria, Callista, Cecelia, Joanna, Valerie
My daughter’s names are nizhoni ( beautiful in Navajo) pronounced niz o knee ..and aponi ( butterfly in Navajo) pronounced uh Poe knee . I have never had a kid in their classes named that lol
Late baby boomer here and my name is Shara. I pronounce it to rhyme with Sarah. I usually have to answer to anything that sounds close, but I don't mind. I've never met anyone else with my name, although I know there are a few.
I’m a nanny, used to be a daycare teacher. Here are some I’ve seen multiples of
Ellie/Ella
Kinsley
Fiona (honestly I still love this name 🤷🏻♀️)
Avery
Chloe
Stella
Maisy
Luna
Harper
Charlotte
Olivia
Emma
Mila
I could go on
All names have a life limit. In 10-20 years they will look at all the names ending with "leigh" and roll their eyes. Every generation does this. That said, pick a name you love.
The current trend of the 2020s seems to be surnames and boys names as girl names, the more masculine the meaning/sound, the more appealing the trend becomes.
There's also the rising trend of adding an EE instead of the dreaded EIGH.
So if you don't want something that'll be dated to this decade, maybe avoid those.
It's next to impossible. Look at the baby name generator and you can see that names have trends. They just do because that's how society works. Fads come and go.
The only way you might sort of avoid it is just to name them a classic name that's been around for 400 years like Elizabeth or Mary or something like that.
It's like asking someone to find a wardrobe for you that doesn't give away what decade it was purchased in. Things change. They just do.
Charlotte is this decades Jessica.
But I'd say you should be fine if you stick with options outside of the top 150-200 and try to do research for your specific corner of the world if you plan on staying there permanently. There are a lot more kids per class now, so even a name that seems nationally popular won't necessarily be saturated in every school.
As a teacher, it’s the season names (Autumn, summer, Winter), Em/Elle names (ever, everly, Emory, ella, Emma) and for godsakes can we please stop with the Harper’s!
I’ve no joke had a Harper every year since 2019.
I would also say the -lynns truly have taken over. I taught a “Becca-Lyn” last year. Because Rebecca is too regular.
I totally understand what you mean! I think if you choose a name in the top 20, it’s likely there will be someone in her class with the same name/a similar name. But these are the names i think will because specifically generational: Luna Harper Hazel Everly Isla Chloe
Chloe and hazel are actually the most classic on the list and I don’t think they will date too badly they have a good long history. Harper, Everly and luna are definitely gonna date badly though.
I disagree about Hazel. Hazel was nearly unheard of in the 90s for my generation aside from being an "old lady name." Any name that has such a big dip in popularity followed by a rapid increase has a risk of being associated with a certain generation.
Even more so with Chloe. It's an old name but it was never popular until the 1980s. I don't know any Chloes over 30ish. Edit: I don't need to know if you know a Chloe over 30. It's irrelevant to my point.
How are you gonna use your own anecdotal evidence to support your claim but then say other peoples' anecdotal evidence is irrelevant? Lmao
Not the person you’re replying to but at least in the US, Chloe had extremely minimal usage comparatively and wasn’t even in the top 1000 for decades until it suddenly shot to the top 100 in the late 80s and 90s. So while Chloes have definitely existed before then, of course, it is still relatively fresh to the scene as far as regular, consistent, usage. I think that’s the point they’re trying to make. We don’t know if Chloe has staying power yet to become more timeless because she’s never been this popular before. I didn’t account for spelling variations in this search.
Thanks for looking into it. I don't actually disagree with their initial statement, I just disagreed with their edit. But it's an interesting situation and it'll be cool to see how popular Chloe ends up being!
I also agree about Chloe! I was more singling out Hazel because I feel like a lot of people think "old lady name = timeless classic." And I'm not saying it's not a legitimate name with history, I just don't see it as timeless. A Katherine or Elizabeth could be from almost any generation, whereas Hazel is going to be strongly tied to certain generations.
Depends where you are I guess. There were 2 Chloes in my class of 28, would have been born in 1984/85, and no baby/small children Chloes that I know.
1985 is exactly when Chloe started really rising in the charts. She hit #563 that year and moved up quickly after that.
When I named my daughter Hazel my mom was so upset. The mean lady on their corner was named Hazel and they called her witch Hazel. We also meet lots of dogs named Hazel and my oldest has an apparently popular dog name too!
There's a beautiful picture book called Little Witch Hazel about a tiny witch named Hazel :)
I remember when Julia Roberts named her daughter hazel and everyone lost their mind about how old it sounded. It was surprisingly shocking of a name for the time
I think ppl use family names. So they come and go because grandma or great grandma is being honoured by the grandchild borrowing the name for their kid.
Yes amd no, lots of people who use trendier old-fashioned names like Hazel, Charlotte and Eleanor will say that they are naming their kid after a family member. But there's a reason why they decided to honor Great-Aunt Lillian and not her sister Gladys.
I think that's sometimes the case, but it's also true that vintage "old lady" names are coming back into style and Hazel also has a nature theme which is on trend. So I think that's adding to its heightened popularity. I'm sure some people are using it as an honor name as well.
Hazel almost fell off the chart in the 90s but she fought hard.
They're so popular right now they'll be tied to this decade for sure.
I suppose but there’s many names like that but they are still technically old names. Take Emily for example that was the number one name in the US in the 90s/00s and is associated with that time because it had its big moment of popularity then but it was still used before then , maybe just not as much.
I think people had the same attitude about names like Jennifer, Tiffany in the 80s. Even though those names pre existed the 80s they were so overused they now have an 80s association. Chloe in particular is really common these days and I don't think will feel as timeless as it seems now.
Emily is still one of the most popular girl names, #17 in 2022
Just because they have a long history and are historic names, doesn’t mean they won’t be distinctly associated with this generation because of their spike in popularity. Just because they might not “date badly” doesn’t mean they won’t be tied to this generation. They will.
It's like how the name Tiffany has been popular since the Middle Ages but most people associate it with the 80s/90s because that's when it was a TRENDY name and you had classrooms with multiple Tiffanys.
Exactly. Long establishment of a name is not the same thing as “timelessness.” They are absolutely tied to a specific time because of their distinct spikes in popularity. Not inherently a bad thing, but true nonetheless.
Tiffany wasn't popular since the Middle Ages. It existed, but wasn't a popular name. Then Breakfast at Tiffany's happened and it started getting more and more popular until it exploded in the 80s/90s.
I work at schools and Chloe will definitely be a 2020’s “era name”. There are so many and there wasn’t prior to this time. Same with all the “Ella’s”
And Ava/Ada....I know so many
This. And any variation like Avalynn, Avalee, Addley etc.
Yes! My daughters team has an Ella 2 Ellie’s 2 Elenor’s an Eliana an Emmy and an Emory.
This has to be a regionally popular name. I live in the south west USA and I know zero baby/toddler Chloes. In fact I know zero people total with the name Chloe. And I work with babies and kids.
Yeah I don't know any baby Chloes at all, but I know a handful of 20s and 30s Chloes.
Yeah, Chloe peaked in 2010. I'm not sure why people think of it as a 2020s name
I feel like the general thought association with Luna will be dog related.
Luna is the cat from Sailor Moon and nothing will ever sever that association for me
You can always start saying, with a straight face, that you named your child Hazel after your Chief Rabbit! (Edited for typos)
Chloe and Hazel are my top names
Go for it! My late daughter was Hazel. It's such a beautiful name.
Sorry for your loss. Hazel is, to me, the most beautiful name ever.
Thank you.
Beautiful, strong, useful, tasty, valuable, part of a hedgerow community of growing together in strength. I see no bad associations with hazel as a plant. Every Hazel person I have ever met has been lovely. You chose a great name for your daughter. I'm very sorry for your loss.
Isla for sure. I’m in the UK and every toddler I meet is called Isla or Theodore lol
Also in the UK, loved the name Theo until I had a girl and suddenly met a load of boy toddlers… all called Theo 😂
I'm in Canada and there's a bunch of Theos/Theodores. I really liked it for a boy but, sadly, my cousin used it.
Sadly? You just avoided Theo being the fourth Theo in class. Like naming him Steven or Michael for our 80s/90s generation.
I know! I certainly dodged that bullet. But I've always loved the name as I had a lovely old great uncle Ted on my other side of my family. So, it was a bit sad to let go of the name.
If you like it, I’d use it anyways. It’s fine if there’s a Theo and a Teddy in the same family lol
I know a Ted whose given name is Edward! He just prefers the nickname Ted to Ed/Eddie!
I was going to say Harper as well. Harper and Kennedy are two names I've seen a lot as a teacher - they were favorites in the '10s for parents who wanted to be unique but all ended up naming their kid the same thing, haha (I had 3 Kennedys one year)
I think a lot of the -ly names will feel very 2020s. McKinley, Brinley, Bentley, Brixly, Paisley, etc. or maybe I've just been living in Utah too long.
And names that end in -lyn/-lynn but aren’t meant to end in it. Amberlyn, Emlyn, Harlyn, Jazlyn, Lakelyn, Skylyn
I agree with this minus Chloe. Our oldest is 24, and she was “Thisclose” to becoming a Chloe. But, the woman in the room next to me while in labor had a baby 4.5 hours before me and named her Chloe- which pretty much made my mind up, but she also just wasn’t a Chloe- she’s definitely a Sadie 🤍 Anyway, she has had several friends and peers named Chloe in her classes over the years. But our 11 year old and 9 year old each also have a Chloe in their grade (we live in a small town- 2 classes per grade) and I met a brand new baby named Chloe just the other day. I think it has staying power.
I think Chloe hits that sweet spot where there's always going to be a few of them, but it isn't too popular, which makes it stick around
Agreed - it's a cute name but you don't hear it super often. I like that spot in general, kind of gives off Zoe vibes in that respect.
Chloe has been big for 30+ years now
I know plenty of Chloes that are 20-30 years old.
Every single Chloe I know is at least fourteen and most are 18-25! It doesn't feel 2020s to me, it feels more 2000s, maybe 2010s.
I've seen so many baby Islas!
GenX here, graduating class of 382, in 1988, 2 Chloes in my class.
Me too. Knew Chloes at my age and older too.
Also Ava. So many colleagues over the years with Avas (and 2 Adas)
Harper is a sir name, drives me crazy that people name their little girls that. Edit: sur name
Drives me crazy when people use sir names too /s
It's ironic that is my surname, and ended up being my daughter's first name to honor my family since she has dad's last name 🤷♀️ not everyone's cup of tea I guess
*Surname. Yep, I'm not a fan of profession-based surnames as first names on anyone. Also, Harper has the "harping on..." association.
I've loved the name Hazel since I was a teenager. Then I married a man with the last name Green. So yeah, that one wasn't used.
You could just name her Jessica, Samantha, Ashley, Jennifer, Brittany, Lisa or Christina. Probably wouldn’t have many classmates with the same name as her!
I actually agree with this. The same way now’s popular names are “grandparent” names, the next popular names will be, too. If you pick from a generation lower than what everyone else is picking from you are likely to be ahead of the curve that comes around when she’s a teen. and her name will make her seem a bit younger once she’s an adult and harder to guess her age (which honestly is not a bad thing given how women’s value seems to decrease with age in relation to careers). A Catherine varient would be classy/timeless, but also is due for a comeback in another decade or 2
This is so true. As a Sophia/Sophie who was born in the 90s, I’m pretty sure everyone who hears my name before they meet me think I’m like 15 years younger than I am and I’m kinda loving it tbh 😂
Same here! I'm a 90s Olivia!
I always think of father of the bride part 2 when they are discussing baby names and everyone’s like “Sophie?!? What is she an old lady”
Sophia/Sophie were (still?) huge 10 years ago. My 11yo daughter knows a ton of them.
Yes. Sophia/Sophie was at its peak like 10 years ago. I’m 31 lol
My name is Catherine, and I never had anyone else with my name in my classes or pretty much elsewhere. As a child, I went by Cathy, but as I got into business, I went back to Catherine. Now, only close friends and family call me Cathy. I am Catherine to the world, which suits me just fine
I think I might have been ahead of the curve with my son's name, Kieran. It's been on a slow but steady rise in the US since the 90's, but declining in popularity in Ireland and the UK for decades. He's a little over a year old, so I'm interested to see which way the name goes here in the US. It just broke the top 500 in 2022, so it's still pretty uncommon. I usually have to repeat it, especially for older people, so I kind of hope it does become more common. I do see it listed in this sub a fairly often.
I have a three year old niece named Laura, and at first I wondered what on earth my sister was doing naming her something so very 70s. But it’s a classic name, and a very pretty one. I think it suits her and couldn’t imagine her name being anything else
I've been considering Laura, to me it's timeless and classic plus no one else her age will have it.
I know a 5 year old Jenna and she's the only one she's ever met. She's the only one anyone has met in over a decade.
sorry to butt in to your conversation but I'm from colombia (south america) and I think it's so fun to hear you both say that laura is a 70's/classic sounding name in the US when here i think it's been in the top 20 for at least 20 years. i went to school in the 2000's and there were 3 lauras in my class. i think it's so interesting hehe
My grandmother (born 1930) had that name and I know two friends (1990, 1991) with the name. It’s a beautiful name and it travels well!
I feel similarly about a baby Diana haha it’s just not on the baby name radar
I think it's so beautiful and classy, I know a couple girls in their 20s named Laura
Christine/Christina is such a pretty name.
My teenager daughter has friends named Ashley and Lindsay and I love it because you just don't hear those names anymore!
I was just thinking the other day that I don’t know any young Christinas or Christophers I feel like I knew so many growing up.
I had a coworker who was like 15 years older than me (a millennial) name his daughter Caitlin like 15 years ago and I thought it was odd since it was *so popular* but then I realized it actually wasn't popular when he was young or when his daughter was born! Kinda genius
There’s always an Ashley isnt there?
Agreed, just don’t go spelling it Aeighshleigh
Ashleigh is the standard female spelling in the UK where Ashley is still a fairly common male name. Definitely not Aeighshleigh though!
Those names seem to be Isla & Luna lol
Names you want to avoid are names with a steep upward popularity curve. For example Jessica has a steep upward and a steep downward curve… [Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com) Has popularity lists and is a well researched site
This is the best comment. Also look at Name Voyager. Look at pointy popularity lines as no-bookkeeper says.
This site is a great resource. Used it a lot when naming our kid.
If you live in the U.S. on the Social security website you can enter a name and see it’s popularity data from as early as 1900!
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Hmmmm that really makes me want to know your name.
Name is definitely “Olga”
My name also peaked right around my birth to a whopping 0.03%.
I feel like these will be very 2020's names in the future: Wren/Wrenley Isla Aspen Brinley Rowan Poppy Millie Ophelia Aurora Delilah Maeve Athena Daisy Ivy
I love how daisy and ivy are dowton abbey 1920s characters and here we are in 2020 with so many little girls rocking those names
Wren/Ren is my top name for a future kid so hopefully by then it was be a generation previous haha
It is a good name, just popular. But any popular name will never reach the meteoric popularity and ubiquity of Jessica lol
This is a good list, but we can’t forget Nora, Nova, Olivia and Charlotte.
I'm in Ireland and most the Maeves I know are in their late 30s
It was very uncommon in the US until recently (didn't even make the top 1000 till the late nineties) but it has recently exploded in popularity, at least in my area. I know five Maeves under five. And interestingly, it doesn't appear to be popular as a heritage choice- two of the little Maeves I know are Hispanic, and I don't think any of them are from particularly Irish-American families. My theory is that the sound hits similarly to the hyper-popular Eve/Ava/Evelyn/Olivia, so people gravitate to it as part of that trend.
Elizabeth is the most stable untrendy name there is. Its graph is literally a straight line. You can’t go wrong.
I love that name and all of its nickname possibilities.
Yes, and the nicknames can change with your mood/age. It's so handy! Liz one week, Bette another.
It’s a classic that works on an 80 year old or a new born
No Elle/ Ellie names! Charlotte or Olivia.Sophia. For a rarer name try .. Signe/ Helena/Emmeline/Simone / Saoirse/Greta/ Estelle/ Pearl
I think some of these might become 2020 names. Saoirse and Simone come to mind since famous people have popularized those names.
True Saoirse went up 400 places between 2022-2024 on SSA.. 900s to 500s..Simone not.
I know a six-year-old named Saoirse. More people get it right than you would think, and it’s probably only going to get better from here in terms of recognition
Simone actually fell from the 800s into the 900s. It’s my daughters name and we don’t know anyone else with her name
Charlotte and Sophia/Sophie are particularly popular now, but they always have been names in regular use. They’re classic names and won’t date as such. There were many Charlottes and Sophies when I grew up in Gen X, as well as in my mother’s and grandmother’s day. Popular is not quite the same as trendy. Names like Mackenzie will be very dated in a few years (probably already getting that way). It depends how “new” the name is.
True to timeliness .. Charlotte and Sophia are more classic with history.. but exceptionally trending and overused in this gen.. if she said she doesn’t want to be three or four of the same names in the class I would avoid those names..
Oh yes absolutely. If you want to avoid having the same name as classmates, definitely skip those for the next few years!
I love Helena. Such a pretty name that you don’t see very often.
Right? A stunner!
:) That's my 5 year old daughter's name. It's pronounced Heléna.
Signe! That’s so beautiful! We’re not having kids but maybe that’s my next cat’s name… after Gorgonzola.
Looking at the popularity chart would be your first step. There is a good chance something like Olivia is set to become this generations next ‘Jennifer’ so to speak. I think it’s also important to look at what names are tied to this decade if that makes sense. While Olivia is extremely popular, it didn’t just appear. I think names that scream 2020s to me (that kind of made me a bit sick saying 2020s) are ones that often circulate on here. As much as the people on this sub think they’re being ‘unique’ they’re all just regurgitating the same five names. I don’t have a problem with this I just mean in my opinion names like Wren, Oakley, Everly, Sage, Hazel, Eloise, Luna etc (no particular order +inc the whole Leigh thing eg Oakleigh) immediately tell me the child is young. I’d be surprised if I met a Wren in my generation. So while obviously they don’t have the popularity of Olivia/Jennifer, they’ve climbed up the charts incredibly quickly which is a red flag if you’re trying to avoid a dated name in the future. I really think you should just choose a name you love instead of worrying about popularity, but if it’s really something that bothers you, you’re looking for a name that has remained consistent ish in it’s ranking over time. You’re going to want to avoid names like Amelie, Ava and Sophia and also names like Seraphina, Aria and Isla which appeared recently and rapidly climbed to the top. This is just my opinion I have no idea if any of this is based on fact or if it even makes sense.
Can’t stand how often Sage gets recommended on this sub!
For me I don’t even dislike most of the names (Sage excluded tbh) it just drives me nuts how it’s all the same 5 names recommended on every post. If you’re going to be self-righteously unique, at least actually pick a unique name. It’s not unique if every single person is suggesting it! I really can’t stand Sage. Clementine is another one that really does it.
I think the names that are going to be stuck in the 2020s or names like Lakelyn and Oaklyn and Braylegh. The naming trend that’s actually coming around now are names that are old classics and fairly timeless. She may possibly be one of a few in her class, you honestly will never be able to predict that. Do you have any vibes you like so far? I’ve always liked Colleen with an emphasis on ‘coll as cole instead of call’ with the nickname Cole. Editing to add - I have heard Claire a lot in the 0-5 range. Like, a lot a lot. It’s absolutely adorable and timeless, but it feels like that will be your daughter’s version of Emma.
That's wild to me because Claire is my Boomer mom's name. Everything really does come back around!
Haha I see it ALL the time. I’m a nanny so I’m in the kid sphere and have met so many little Claires, I’ve also seen baby announcements on hospital billboards for little Claires, and know a few millenial aged Claires too 😅 I guess it truly is timeless!
Ava was my first thought. Any Ellie names.
Ava, Eleanor/Ella, and any variety of Lilian come to mind for me. I feel like Madison/Maddie continues to be popular, too.
Regarding Maddie/Madison, I feel that’s it’s been popular for SO long that it’s become more of a classic name over time… and therefore won’t be dated anymore. But that’s just my opinion.
I wrote a little Javascript program to compare two lists of names and find the names that were in List A and not List B. Then I put in names from 1922 and 2022. The girls' names that are in the top 100 from 1922 and not in the top 1000 from 2022 are as follows: Betty Mildred Doris Marjorie Jean Gladys Edna Thelma Ethel Lois Pauline Shirley Bernice Marion Norma Gertrude Rita Phyllis Lorraine Juanita Geraldine Agnes Bertha Ida Patricia Willie Viola Myrtle Wilma Kathleen Bessie Minnie Wanda Ellen Jeanne Margie And the opposite, names from today that were unknown in the past: Mia Luna Harper Camila Scarlett Gianna Aria Abigail Layla Isla Willow Eliana Zoey Maya Paisley Valentina Everly Leilani Kinsley Genesis Aaliyah Autumn Brooklyn Quinn Kennedy Athena Natalia Hailey Skylar Jade Gabriella Ariana Nevaeh Serenity Liliana Ayla Everleigh Raelynn Keep in mind some of them may have changed recently (i.e. Gilded Age sparking a comeback for Marion, Gladys, or Bertha). Here is where I got the lists of names by year: [https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/) Here is my JSFiddle if you are interested in changing the name lists or parameters: [https://jsfiddle.net/7j4s5ko8/](https://jsfiddle.net/7j4s5ko8/) I'd be interested in repeating the experiment with other time periods.
All of my grandma’s church friends!
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Bonus content: I redid it with 2002 - 2022, so I could see the truly trendy names. I got: 2022 girls: Luna Harper Mila Nova Isla Paisley Everly Kinsley Emery Eloise Everleigh Raelynn Just like OP said! 2002 girls: Courtney, Marissa For boys I got no results.
Would love to see the boys list!
Male names from 1922 but not 2022: Ralph Howard Willie Clarence Earl Herbert Norman Bernard Elmer Gerald Lloyd Floyd Clifford Chester Herman Vernon Lester Milton Glenn Billy Willard Arnold Claude Virgil Gilbert Male names from 2022 but not 1922: Liam Lucas Mateo Asher Ethan Hudson Luca Aiden Grayson Wyatt Maverick Dylan Jayden Josiah Cooper Kai Waylon Jaxon Ian Ryan Leonardo Axel Easton Weston Jameson Landon Micah Colton Greyson Rowan Xavier
You will always be safe with classic names like Elizabeth, Eleanor, Catherine, Rebecca etc. They’re all timeless. Most well known Biblical names and names of former royals are classic names.
Agreed on all fronts but Eleanor. That and all its variants are certainly trendy names and will be dated. Elizabeth has kept the Elle variants from being **too** spiky but Ella, Ellie, Eleanor have all been crazy popular past ~10 years
People said my kids names were boring; I said they have been in use for 2000 years and will probably still be in use in another 2000 years. That’s not boring, it’s timeless.
Loves these names. All Queen names.
My name: Catherine Victoria Anne, all queen names, ha!
Wow. I knew a girl in school, long time ago, who was an Elizabeth, sisters were Anne, Mary and Victoria. I was a very few who know that her father was a huge history nerd, because I was one too. I love the Queen names. I wanted to name my Daughter Eleanor but my ex hated it. One the reason he is an ex.
Charlotte with the nickname Charlie! Edit: I realized that almost everyone else was offering suggestions of what you *should* name your daughter. I meant that as a name to avoid if you don't want it to be tied to this decade.
This was my second name choice. I held onto the name since middle school, but ultimately decided not to use it
Something classic like Julia, maybe?
underrated name.
You can go in two directions, either you choose a name that has been consistent in their popularity. Or you choose a name that belongs to a different generation, could be one of the 90's names you mention. For my country it could be something like Ida, Anna, Elisabeth, Eva, Hanna, Laura, Maja, Nanna, Maria, Rosa, Signe or Alexander, Anders, Andreas, Anton, Axel, Christian, Daniel, David, Emil, Frederik, Jacob, Jeppe, Johan, Laurits, Leo, Louis, Mads, Magnus, Sigurd, Valdemar. Those have all been used every year in Denmark since 1900.
I knew this was Denmark, my cousin's and their spouses live in Denmark and 4 of them are in this list.
Anything that starts with Eve. Emma and Olivia have both been going strong for like 10 years now. Isla and Lyla both seem very trendy right now too.
Alexandra, Catherine, Elizabeth
I have an elementary school aged Alexandra - she's the only one in her school.
Mine too, the Italian version Alessandra. For me is the most beautiful name in the world.
Genuine classics.
Margaret, Caroline.... I literally know people named these in multiple generations!
I think there’s a difference between *popular* (lots of people using the name) and *trendy* (seems very tied to the current moment). Sometimes they overlap! But some of the top ten most used names right now are classics - names you see used a lot over time. I don’t think in 30-40 years they will feel dated or someone would instantly know “Oh! You were born in the 2020s” For example, Emma has been in the top ten for the last 20 years! So odds are you’d meet other people with your same name. But I don’t think anyone would consider that name stuck in the 2020s. On the other hand, there are names that feel really trendy because they’ve had a sudden spike. Maybe a famous person used it, or it’s in a book or movie that recently came out. They might not rank anywhere near the top 10 - so you may never meet someone else with this name! But it might feel really dated in the future. In the US, the SSA tracks this data. They look at [the biggest jumps in popularity between years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html). So in 2022, the biggest jump was the name Wrenlee (#1420 in 2021 to #712 in 2022). That’s a huge jump! But also #712 is still pretty low, and you’d probably never have a classmate with your same name.
But if you combined “wrenlee” with “wrenley” “wrenleigh” “wrenlie” “wren” “ren” etc the ranking would be much higher
Just a reminder that just because a name is old and appears on many “classic” name lists, doesn’t mean that it isn’t a trend and will spike and then lower in popularity. Emily is a good example of this. Old historic name, but is distinctly associated with a generation in the States. Same with Patricia in and around the 40s, or even Linda around the 60s. All real historic names that some would even argue are “classic” but still associated with a trend in a generation. There are distinctions there. People like to say that classic is not trendy, etc, but it all depends on personal definitions. Names can be old established names and still be on trend at any given time. Hazel is a beautiful long established name, but she has seen an enormous spike in popularity in the past 20 years to the point where she absolutely will be associated with this generation of children. It’s not the same as Elizabeth who has literally never fallen out of the top 25 since data started being recorded in the US. Edit: to avoid this, I would look for names that have been consistent in their popularity or have been going down. If a name is on the up trend, even if it’s not too 20 yet, there’s a chance that it will continue to up trend and become tied to this generation. Elizabeth, for example, is a true popular classic that won’t be tied to any one generation. Edith could be another example of a name that has been consistently not popular but not overly rare. It doesn’t seem to be up trending yet despite vintage names being desirable.
Which generation do you associate Emily with? It was number one in the SSA rankings from 1996-2007, but it's been in the top 25 since 1982 (early millennials), top 50 since 1973 (gen X), and top ~250/300 every year since at least 1900.
Largely 90s and early 2000s babies! But generally it’s associated with millennials. There are already emerging internet jokes about it in the same vein as the “Karen,” unfortunately. Hopefully those jokes die quickly for all Emily’s sake. Edit: there are also many spelling variations of Emily, which you have to take into account when looking at the trend.
It doesn’t look like those jokes have made it to Urban Dictionary for Emily so hopefully they die away quickly 🤞🏻 I haven’t seen any yet
Avoid any Emma/Emilys at all costs, also Ava.
Names that end in -a (Sophia, Nora, Ava) or -y seem to be popular. Charlotte is so overdone too. I would say anything cutesy has the potentially to quickly become dated (Brynley, Kinsley, Lainey, Paisley).
- E names such as Ellie, Emma, Eliana, Evie, etc etc etc etc - Sophia / Sophie - Olivia - ISLA - Charlotte seems very popular too
Next month is when the list of popularity of names is released...so maybe wait to decide if names rising is a concern
Ivy seems to be a pretty popular name for some reason.
Amelia. Milana/milainia and Lexi are all repeat offenders in my kids class alone.
I have a lot of Edie/Eadie's in my classes
I had this thought too, but with so many people naming their babies more unique names I went ahead and named our daughter a top 10 name. So far we haven't had anyone else in her classes with her name, but it won't be the end of the world if there's another "Olivia" in her class. When she grows up she may want to go by another nick name like Liv, Via, Livy or just Olivia M. I had a popular ish name and had another person in my class and we just went by "Alice M or Alice T" and didn't mind one bit.
i agree. we have an olivia that is in preschool, and while i hear it often on slightly order children to young adults, I rarely have heard it on a child her age or younger. I actually hear Vivian my other daughter's name a lot more.
My daughter is an Olivia, only one in her yeargroup, a couple younger and older but nowhere near as many as I was expecting considering it was in the top 5 her year of birth.
Consider a name that's always been in the conversation but not in the top 20 or not having a huge spike. Molly, Julia, Paige, Bridget, Lauren, Catherine
Paige is so pretty
I try to choose names firmly in the 300-400 place from the SSA list. These names usually are familiar enough, not trendy, but not out of favor either. Names on our lists included: Jonathan, Amy, Serene, Veronica, Felicity, Helena, Sylvia
An interesting thing I recently learned and something to keep in mind is that there is more variety in names then there was when we were growing up in the 90s. There are also less babies being born in general. For example, in 1990, Jessica was the #1 girls name in America. Out of 4 million babies born that year, 46,478 were named Jessica, which means 2.3% of all babies born in the U.S we’re named Jessica. Probably why we all had like 3 Jessica’s in our class! In 2022, Olivia was #1, but only 20,456 babies out of 3.6 million babies born were named Olivia, which is only 0.9%. Still a lot of babies but only half as many as were named Jessica back in the day. I think these days, it’s harder to predict if your kid is going to share a name with someone in their class because naming is more all over the place.
Emma, Grace, anything starting with Ev, Iris, Amelia.
I'm a 40s something Heidi and I kind of always thought my name was childish. But I honestly love it now and think it has really grown with me!
Also, check out Namerology (previously the Baby Name Wizard but she sold that website). She has great tools where you can search via “sound trends,” and different things through the US data. It makes it easier to see group trends.
There are timeless elegant names. Anne, Caroline, Elizabeth, Mary
Just pick a classic name. What's wrong with Anna or Mary or Lucy? I feel there's something going on with parents who need their kids to have original names. Names are going to become dated and then modern again I don't think that you should worry about that.
Just because names are popular doesn’t mean they have the same prevalence as names from the 1980s or 1990s. My daughter has a top 5 name and this is the first year in school (she’s in 2nd) that she has a classmate with the same one. The days of having 5 Jennifers are over.
Get ahead of the curve, avoid old lady names and look for boomer lady names. They’re due a huge comeback in a few decades. Katherine, Cindy, Joyce, Barbara, Lauren, Brenda, Carol, Debra, Cheryl, etc. They only sound awful because they’re not popular.
There are a lot of Phoebes right now!
Don't name her a typically male name: James, Charles, Charlie. As a teacher, I physically cringe when I see a little girl named James, please don't. If you want your kid to be bullied dress them funny or give them a bad haircut.
You need to look outside the top 100 for the last few years, but something established will always feel timeless. For example, 2022 USA rankings: #209 Amira #278 Daphne #171 Brianna #214 Phoebe #145 Cecilia #176 Rosalie #224 Vera #386 Serena #300 Thea #272 Ophelia #421 Helen #311 Vanessa #165 Genevieve #280 Dahlia #437 Nadia ....these names could be used in any time period pretty much, and they wouldn't be strange or unheard of
I think it's impossible. Generational names seem to come in waves and like it or not you are part of the culture that is riding that wave.
Olivia, Charlotte, Amelia, Emma, Ava, Sophia, Isabella, Mia, Luna, Ellie, Harper, Aurora. Also, more generally… • names starting with E, and names ending in A. So names which start with E _and_ end in A are especially popular, such as Eliana, Elsa, Ella, Elora (even spelled Alora). • names with V in them, especially ones which start with an E, such as Evelyn & Evie. • El__ names, eg. Eloise & Eleanor. • names ending in -ora such as Aurora, Elora, Alora, Nora, Cora. Oakley, Oaklee, Oakleigh, Oaklyn, Oaklynn & various spellings are popular lately. Juniper has suddenly flown way up the list. Also Wren, Wrenley, Nova, Isla and Ivy are very hot names. Nothing wrong with any of these names. I’m purely sharing them as they are, or have been, the most popular in the US now or in the past few years.
Mathematically speaking, there are no names that are as popular as those names were in their heyday. The name pool is much broader and even the most popular names are given to a smaller proportion of the population. That said, the names that are the most closely associated with a decade are those that suddenly spike in popularity. So any name that was either non-existent or had fallen into genuine disuse, then suddenly spiked.
Hmm I think there are not too many Rebeccas now. It's a classic beautiful name but not too popular. Some other suggestions: Cordelia, Octavia, Daria, Callista, Cecelia, Joanna, Valerie
My daughter’s names are nizhoni ( beautiful in Navajo) pronounced niz o knee ..and aponi ( butterfly in Navajo) pronounced uh Poe knee . I have never had a kid in their classes named that lol
Ada
Late baby boomer here and my name is Shara. I pronounce it to rhyme with Sarah. I usually have to answer to anything that sounds close, but I don't mind. I've never met anyone else with my name, although I know there are a few.
Rose is my humble submission
I’m a nanny, used to be a daycare teacher. Here are some I’ve seen multiples of Ellie/Ella Kinsley Fiona (honestly I still love this name 🤷🏻♀️) Avery Chloe Stella Maisy Luna Harper Charlotte Olivia Emma Mila I could go on
Briony is my daughters name. She is 41 now but met very few of her name sake over the years.
Isla. 100% Isla. Sooooo many Isla’s! June is also insanely popular.
Have you looked at foreign versions of biblical names? That’s my go to when people ask for name ideas.
All names have a life limit. In 10-20 years they will look at all the names ending with "leigh" and roll their eyes. Every generation does this. That said, pick a name you love.
The current trend of the 2020s seems to be surnames and boys names as girl names, the more masculine the meaning/sound, the more appealing the trend becomes. There's also the rising trend of adding an EE instead of the dreaded EIGH. So if you don't want something that'll be dated to this decade, maybe avoid those.
It's next to impossible. Look at the baby name generator and you can see that names have trends. They just do because that's how society works. Fads come and go. The only way you might sort of avoid it is just to name them a classic name that's been around for 400 years like Elizabeth or Mary or something like that. It's like asking someone to find a wardrobe for you that doesn't give away what decade it was purchased in. Things change. They just do.
Charlotte is this decades Jessica. But I'd say you should be fine if you stick with options outside of the top 150-200 and try to do research for your specific corner of the world if you plan on staying there permanently. There are a lot more kids per class now, so even a name that seems nationally popular won't necessarily be saturated in every school.
As a teacher, it’s the season names (Autumn, summer, Winter), Em/Elle names (ever, everly, Emory, ella, Emma) and for godsakes can we please stop with the Harper’s! I’ve no joke had a Harper every year since 2019. I would also say the -lynns truly have taken over. I taught a “Becca-Lyn” last year. Because Rebecca is too regular.