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2018 Top Baby Names - Our Thoughts

  The names have been revealed! Each May the SSA publishes the top baby names of the year before. We're obsessed with analyzing the list for new trends and confirming our predictions. (Or admitting we were WAY off!) New to the naming world, at this time last year we didn't even know this data existed. What? You can search and sort and look at data going back to the early 1900's? Amazing. We've spent a ton of time sifting through the stats, so here is an analysis of our predictions.



1. Liam isn't going anywhere. Logan is.
  Nailed it! In the Top 10 on both sides, the biggest dip was Logan.

2. Isla cracks the Top 100, significantly.
  Cracked, Yes. Significantly.. not so much. from 103 to 82. Not bad, but it's interesting to note that Isla is doing much better in other countries...Top 10 in Scotland, Top 5 in Australia and we do think it will continue to rise in the US.

3. "W" Nature Names rise as well, think Wren, Willow, Waverly & Winter.
  Wren is by far the most popular Pin on our pinterest page, and it's not even close. It's been on the rise since 2014 up from 800 to 469. Welcome to the Top 1,000 Waverly! Debuting at 977, we actually know a sweet little one IRL. Willow went up from 81 to 62 and yes, Winter is coming, rising from 444 to 390.

4. Evelyn and Abigail drop out of the Top 10. They are replaced with two more names that end in -a.
  Oops. We were wrong about Evelyn. Maybe it's that we don't actually know any or we thought Everly a super hot alt, but we believed it was on the decline. This name has had an interesting journey though, that has us reconsidering. It spent a ton of time in the Top 20 from 1907 to 1930 but then steadily dropped to as low as 288 in 1980. But then Evelyn battled back, appearing in the Top 20 again in 2011.  Maybe she's on another upward swing.
  After spending the 2000's in the Top 10, Abigail took a one spot dip to 11. It wasn't an -a name that popped up and in, it was Harper, and we feel like we should've seen that coming. Spending time at the 10 spot in 2015 and 2016, Harper's back in her best position yet, #9.

5. Everly jumps from #82 to something in the 50's.
  Yep. And other spellings took big jumps too! Everlee up 215 spots and Everleigh up 190.

6. Golden cracks the Top 1,000 on the boy's side.
  Nope. This on got a bunch of love on instagram. We thought it might be hot!

7. Oak- names will (again) have significant increases in popularity.
  Yep. On the girl's side we see Oaklynn up 346, Oaklyn up 184 spots, Oaklee rose 92 places and Oakley 86. Here's where they sit:
Oakley    #388 (Boy's 459)
Oaklyn    #493
Oaklynn  #542
Oaklee    #856


8. Names for boys that end in -ic & -ick increase. Think Merrick, Emeric and Alaric.
  This might be the worst of our predictions... We can't even find one with a significant rise other than Henrik, which is only up 54 places. Isaac and Maverick still sit in the Top 100, but very few boy's names end this way. We will keep our eye on this ending though. EDIT: Or was it that bad? According to Nancy's Baby Names, who took a much deeper data dive found Emric took a giant relative leap! We definitely need to work on our analysis of the  stats!

9. Gender neutral names will finally rise on the girl's side. Examples are Elliot and Ryan.
  Unsure. Surprised by the jump of Ezra for a girl.... but ending in "a" it makes total sense!
Palmer
Dream
Reign
Emory
Legacy
Promise
Arden
Holland
These are a few we see on the rise that might go either way, but we see something else- not just gender neutral, but more virtuous names and names that make a statement. We've noticed this over the last year. It's not a "boy's name" on a little girl, but more of a name that works for either sex.

10. Wilder takes another big leap. Top 300 or better.
  Not that big. But we see it everywhere, so it's on our watch list.

We did okay! What do you think? 
Did you nail any of your #SSA18 predictions?

Comments

  1. NancyMay 12, 2019 at 11:13 PM

    You guys did a good job with the predictions overall! Well done. :)

    ReplyDelete

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