Wattenberg always finds interesting things in the name data:
Classic simplicity is not on the menu for girls
Last year, 612 American girls were named Ann, Joan and Susan, combined. To put that low number in perspective, 613 girls were named Calliope. . . .The “exalted” name wave has crested
Names like King, Prince, Messiah, Royal, Pharaoh and Legend are now falling. The new trend in word-based names for boys is more about hot sounds than meanings. One-syllable names like Truce, Coast, Rain, Jett, Crue and Psalm are rising fast. . . .Xtreme spelling continues to rise
More parents are choosing names that are not just creatively spelled, but designed to catch the eye and upend expectations. 10 of the 20 fastest-rising boys names included an X or Z, including Xyleek, Zyro and Zeovanni. Meanwhile 134 different names in the statistics include the doubled vowels ii or uu, as in Kyiir and Truu. . . .
Cohen shares the graph I’ve placed at the top of this post, along with some interesting bits:
Harvey is doing well, up 40% and climbing 169 spots in the ranking. In 2018, after Hurricane Harvey and the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal of the previous year, Tristan Bridges and I [Cohen] asked, “The name Harvey appears to be on the way to becoming more popular. Will the Harvey’s of 2017 contaminate this name for the American public?” We now have our answer: After four years of stalled growth, Harvey is back on track . . .
The sudden drop in boys being given the names Israel (-21%) and Zion (-18%) in 2024 probably has to do with Israel’s war in Gaza. Those names are most common among Black (especially Zion) and Latino families: Israel is more common in Mexico than in the US; Zion became popular after Lauryn Hill named her son (who is also Bob Marley’s grandson) Zion, and had a beautiful hit song about him in 1998, and Zion has long been associated with Black Christian churches. With the latest war, associating even indirectly with the country of Israel, and Zionism, seems less appealing. . . .
Finally, the androgyny report. About 75% of babies are given names that are either 99% male or 99% female at birth. That has dropped from about 82% over the last 50 years, with most of the slippage coming in the decline of all-boy names . . . What are the most common androgynous names in 2024? Parker, Charlie (that’s funny, Charlie Parker), and Tatum. (Emerson was number two on this list last year, but has crossed over to 61% female.) Tatum is an interesting case: growing more popular among boys and girls pretty equally. Stay tuned . . .
Regarding the graphs above, check out those y-axes. Even the most common of these names are being given to only 0.8% of girls and 1.2% of boys. Compared to how babies were named in previous centuries, there are no very common names. Names have become more standardized in their sounds (or, at least they were up to 2006, which is the last time I looked), but no individual name is as popular as the Johns, Roberts, and Marys of the past century. Here are a couple of graphs from Regression and Other Stories:
This, among other things, caught my eye:
“Classic simplicity is not on the menu for girls
Last year, 612 American girls were named Ann, Joan and Susan, combined. To put that low number in perspective, 613 girls were named Calliope. . . .”
Admittedly, I am often behind the curve, but the above statement can’t possibly be true except in early April. So I checked and found this, which is dated just yesterday (which happens to have been my birthday–Hitler had just invaded various countries back when I made my entrance)
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https://nameberry.com/b/girl-baby-name-calliope
Calliope Origin and Meaning
The name Calliope is a girl’s name of Greek origin meaning “beautiful voice”.
Calliope is the name of the muse of epic poetry — and also the musical instrument on the merry-go-round. Bold and creative, it debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2016, and entered the Top 500 in 2023. Similar in rhythm and sound to Penelope with usable nicknames Callie, Clio, and Lola, it is no wonder it’s on the rise.
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Top 500 and total of 613 names are compatible.
Jack
Daniel
That took a ton of coordination by some whiskey drinkers
“One-syllable names like Truce, Coast, Rain, Jett, Crue and Psalm are rising fast”
lol
> Regarding the graphs above, check out those y-axes.
Not clear what y axes you’re referring to, since the only posted graphs have prevalence on the x axis. And the most popular names claim 6% of boys and 4% of girls, according to those graphs.
“Psalm” is the ideal baby name in many ways. If you choose, you can pronounce it with one, two, or three syllables. If you hear the three-syllable version from your mom, you know you’re in real trouble. And if you have more kids, you can just keep numbering them all the way up to Psalm 150.
Please note that the data are given in promille, not percent. Therefore, 0.6% of newborn boys were named Liam (is that a One Direction reference, or why is that name so popular?), and 0.4% of newborn girls were named Olivia.
Our host gave these numbers as 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively. However, this assumes that ‘per 1000 born’ means ‘per 1,000 newborns in total’. I implicitly assumed that it referred to ‘per 1,000 boys’ and ‘per 1,000 girls’.
More girls name Calliope than Ann, Joan, and Susan combined? Could there be a data issue somehow? I get it that there are a lot of names to choose from, names can fall way out of favor (hi Bertha and Debbie!), etc., but I also know that some people still name their children after beloved aunts or grandmothers or suchlike. There are over 1.7 million female births per year, it’s kinda hard to believe that doesn’t result in at least a few thousand names that I think were among the top 40 just a few decades ago.
Phil:
Disbelieve all you want, but . . . the official data are right here and here are the counts for births in 2024:
Ann,F,211
Joan,F,188
Susan,F,213
Calliope,F,613
So, yeah, there it is. Not a few thousand Anns, Joans, and Susans, just a few hundred.
Also, in case you’re curious:
Bertha,F,28
Deborah,F,316
There are also variant forms (Anne, Anna, Joanne, Joanna, Suzan, Susana, etc etc.)
The decline of traditional names is what got me interested in this.
After 1/7 US girls were named Mary in the 19th century, she’s down to 1/1000. For the last 20 years more girls have been given the name Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards).
It’s not just Mary either, it’s also variations like Maria, Marie and Marianne that have declined.
In 1970 (2025-55 = equivalent to 30 years old for a woman giving birth nowadays, 25 years old for her mother i.e. the grandmother to be named after),
Susan was ranked 15
Ann was ranked 62
Joan was ranked 240
“10 of the 20 fastest-rising boys names included an X or Z, including Xyleek, Zyro and Zeovanni.”
Do the parents organize parties in which they share their “Xtreme spelling” creations? How else do these inventions spread so fast?