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Now Trending in Baby Names

As self-proclaimed "namers" we find so much joy in the discovery of a name that is new to us. Lately we've been noticing that there are definite trends in naming right now. Here are a few of our observations.

Vintage 

We see the vintage trend in more than just naming. The Old Fashioned cocktail has made as big of a comeback as Jack and Henry. Both names, dipping out of the Top 100 for much of the 70's, 80's and 90's are back. Vintage apparel is all the rage, from denim styles to wedding dresses and "retro" swimsuits. Bringing it back from the past it on point. Here are a couple of vintage names we adore:

Genevieve

Spending time in the Top 100 in the early 1900's this lovely name for a gal is one of our favorites. Dipping as low as 691 in the late 60's, we think that this name is on the rise. With possible nicknames of Genna, Vivie, we find it so sweet.

Helen

This beauty is not coming back too fast. We think it will take bigger leaps in the next few years. Starting in 1900, Helen was in the top ten for 35 years! Now ranked 418, we think it could be a great option for a name that is vintage, but not so common.

Charles

For a boy's name, Charles was in the top ten for over fifty years. In 2017 it was ranked 49, slowly rising from the a spot in the 60's through much of the 2000's. Steady and strong, we see this name making it's way back to a super top spot. Charlie was also a top name in the early 1900's. Namers are again going with the shortened version as a given name.  An interesting twist is that there may now be more little girls named Charlie than boys! 

Gender Neutral

We don't have to tell you that unisex names are up and coming. What we've noticed though is that there is a rise in names most consider to be just for boys given to baby girls. This info doesn't come from the statistics, but from observation (and maybe a little celebrity news). Here are a few traditionally baby boy names that we think will rise on the female side:

Mason
James
Wyatt
Dylan
Hunter
Max
Kyle
Parker
Ryan
Sawyer
Elliot

Nature Names

Earthy Baby Names is one of our most popular videos and we've noticed that nature names are definitely on the rise. Luna, Hazel, Violet all landed a spot in the Top 50 in 2017, while some cool nature names made big leaps in popularity.

Kehlani~ A Hawaiian girl's name meaning "sea and sky," moved up almost 350 spots from 2016-17.

Caspian~ Named for the sea between Russia and Iran, it climbed into the Top 1000 and was the third fastest rising name for boys.

Wilder~ We are seeing this one everywhere! It is right along with Ridge and Briar taking leaps for the boys.

Oak Names~ An interesting observation from the change in popularity data is the number of girls names starting with Oak- Oaklynn and Oaklyn topping the list for fastest rising girl's names. And Oaklee and Oakley both jumped more than 100 spots.


Are there trends that you are noticing in naming right now?
 We'd love to hear your thoughts!



Comments

  1. WhimsyOctober 28, 2018 at 11:45 AM

    These definitely seem to be the main ones I've noticed. The vintage trend is especially big it seems. Surname/occupational names are another trend that seems to be pretty big right now, but I can't tell if that will continue or start to fade sometime soon. This is just my observations by the way, not based on actual research or anything.

    I tend to follow the earthy names trend myself, most of my names are nature, word, outerspace, etc. themed. However, I don't really like the popular names of the trend. My favorite "earthy" names are Betony, Indigo, and Sparrow for a girl (crossing my fingers that Indigo won't rise in popularity anytime soon XD) and Hawthorn, Falcon, and Storm for a boy (kind of worried about Hawthorn's popularity too but what can you do XD).

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