My Perspective - How is your name holding up?

By Jim Palmer

Around Mother’s Day, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces the most popular baby names of the previous year. For the SSA, which I can only guess is a fairly serious/low-frill place to work, this announcement has to be one of the more fun and exciting things that happens all year long. But since it is the end of one year and the start of a new one,  other organizations always jump in every December to release predictions on the top names from the year.

If you are like me, these lists sometimes grab my attention for a few moments. Is my name more or less popular this year? How about my kids and siblings? What are the top names? 

Of course, I look at my name first. Even though I have never used the name James other than when I’m filling out official forms (Jimmy as a kid and Jim as an adult), it is my birth name so that’s what I look at.  “James” was ranked 5th in the nation last year and is 7th on the Minnesota list. Not only has James been fairly high on the list recently, it has been up toward the top since the SSA started keeping track of names (1880). In fact, more boys have been named James than another other boy name in the last 100 years. Following James on the list is Michael (my older brother’s name), John, Robert, and David. On the girls side, the top name (by nearly double the second place finisher) is Mary, followed by Patricia, Jennifer, Linda, and Elizabeth. How many people do you know with these names? I can think of at least 7-8 of each without having to think real hard.

The top finishers on the national list this year, according to babycenter.com (one of the predictors), are... (drum roll) Noah at the top spot, followed by Liam, Oliver, Elijah, and Mateo. Liam has been at the top for several years so this would be a change. For the girls, the top finisher is expected to be Olivia, followed by Amelia, Sophia, Emma, and Isabella. Olivia has been on the top for at least five years. It is interesting to see Noah on the top of the boys list. We named our oldest son Noah about 20 years ago and it wasn’t at all popular.

The Minnesota baby name list looks a little different than the national one... but pretty close. The top five names are Liam, Henry, Theodore, Oliver, and Noah for the boys... and Charlotte, Evelyn, Olivia, Emma, and Amelia for the girls.

The fastest dropping names in the United States right now, according to one article, are “millennial names” like Megan, Haley, and Katelyn for the girls and Kyle, Cody, and Brandon for the boys. The columnist went on to say that the Megans and Codys are now having kids of their own and are often picking “old school” names like Eleanor, Henry, Hazel, or Florence.

I learned there was a trend for boys in about 2005 where many two-syllable boys’ names were ending with the letter “n” like Austin, Ethan, Logan. If you have grandkids that were born around that time, chances are pretty good that you have one who fits in that category. Looks like we got in on that trend with our youngest, Easton, who was born in 2010. Most of these names are on the decline (although Easton is still climbing slightly).

Baby names are heavily influenced by public figures. Some names take a sudden fall and some names shoot up toward the top just because of the impact made by one person (big or small). There are some sites that show the rankings through the years so I checked out some of the top risers and top fallers through the years.

“Adolph” was a top 300 name in the United States, peaking at #126 in 1893. In the 1930s and 1940s, while Adolph Hitler was in power, the name started to drop (as you might have guessed). Then it dropped dramatically in the decades to follow. It is barely on the chart at all anymore. No surprise there.

The name “Albert” was a fairly popular name for a long time, finishing in the top 100 most years from 1880s to about 1970. And why not, with genius Albert Einstein living during many of those years. Then the show “Fat Albert” came out. The name started dropping immediately and is still quite low.

On the flip side, the name “Elsa” was hovering between #750-#1,000 until the movie “Frozen” came out in 2013. The following year, Elsa jumped to #286.

Similar story for the name “Elvis,” which saw a major spike in 1957, just months after his first hit, “Heartbreak Hotel,” topped the charts. It stayed in the top 1,000 for decades but is now barely a blip on the charts.

The name “Sophia” was semi-popular in the 1880s but then was not really used at all in the 1920s through 1940s. When Sophia Loren became a major star in the 1950s, that name quickly became a rising star... and it continues today (one of the top girls names).

The fastest-rising boys’ baby names (that are not yet on the top 50) right now: Truce, Colsen, Bryer, Halo, Azaiah, Noa, Azai, Eliam, Zymir, and Rocky.  On the girls’ side, names like Wrenley, Raya, Murphy, Marceline, Halo, Sylvie, Alora, and Miley are moving up quickly. Note: Raya is the name of a new Disney Princess, introduced in 2021. Another note: You may have noticed... Halo is rising as both a boy and girl name.

Finally, some of the more interesting names (in my opinion) gaining some popularity in recent years but still not in the top 200... Everest, Cypress, Lotus, Blaze, Karma, Aster, and Peregrine for boys, and Marlowe, Sunny, Lou, Harley, Rya, Sylvie, and Navy for girls. These names all make my name seem very boring.

If you want to see where your name ranks, go to the Social Security website. If you want to look at other lists, projections and historical rankings for every name under the sun, just Google “top baby names 2025.”

Happy New Year from all of us at Senior Perspective. We appreciate your support this past year and through the years. Without you and that support, this publication would not be possible.