Testing The Theory: Fast-Rising Names and The 100 Year Rule
So, can we use the past to predict the trending names of the future or not?
A few months ago, I proposed the question: Do the Top Rising Names of 100 years ago reflect the Top Rising Names of the present?
Can we use the 100 Year Rule — the theory that names cycle in and out of fashion and take around a century to sound fresh and stylish again — to predict what names will climb the fastest in a given year?
To explore this idea, I compared the data from 1924 and 2024, to see if there were similarities in how parents were naming their children then, and how they’re naming them more now.
The results? Inconclusive, but there were some unexpected parallels between the two data sets, including:
Neutral Nicknames: Lennie, Theo, Vernie, Pat and Mickey for 1924 and Scottie, Billie, Chris, and Rocky for 2024.
Last Names as First Names: Coolridge, Shelton, Crawford, and Rosevelt for 1924; Colsen, Jettson, Darwin, and Marlow for 2024.
Creative Respellings: Murl, Benjimin, Wanita, Elayne, and Elois for 1924; Bode, Ryatt, Alisson, and Elowyn for 2024.
Revivals, Recent and Old: Herminia, Theola, Ignatius and Gilda for 1924, Romina, Marjorie, Dereck, and Arlette for 2024.
Augustin: yes, this name featured on both lists, and had returned to the Top 1000 after a brief absence.
The real test though? Do these similarities indicate we can predict the fastest-rising names of the future using the fast risers of the past, or was it merely an exercise in finding patterns between two sets of names?
Well, it’s the moment we — or rather I — have been waiting for: the US data of 2025 has been released, so let’s take a look to see if there is any validity in this idea!
Up and Coming in 1925
First, let’s cast our minds back to the Top 20 Names that powered up the charts (just over) a century ago:
Notable Trends
Spanish names (notably Spanish word names): Monte, Ramiro, Alejandro, Rosia, Dominga, Ofelia, Delfina, Cruz, Concha
“Feminine”-leaning names for boys: Joy, Ivy
Elaborate and elaborated girl names: Rosia, Susanne, Paulina, Delfina, Ernestina, Rutha, Hortencia
Virtue names: Prudence, Joy, Gay, Ernestina, Rutha
One-syllable names: Donn, Glynn, Joy, Hans, Gay
Names starting with D: Donn, Darleen, Delfina, Dominga, Donnie, Dexter, Dwain, Delois
Moving Up in 2025
First, let’s see if they do align with any of the trends I spotted in the 1925 data:
Spanish names:
Neithan, Eiden, Yadiel, Solana, and Kailany were all fast-rising Spanish choices, though my prediction of word names gathering lots of interest was wrong. While Paloma (“dove”) did rise 176 places and Sol (“sun”) rose by 99, the 2025 preference was for alternative Spanish spellings and for English word names instead, with Truce, Denim, Coast, and Clover on the up.
“Feminine”-leaning names for boys:
While 2025 doesn’t feature any obvious “traditionally-feminine-names-for-boys” , unisex choices are in vogue across the board with contemporary parents more willing to use less traditional options for boys in general. Akari, while masculine-leaning in the US, was the Top ranking name for girls Japan back in 2018, and Campbell has, in recent years, been more popular for girls too. There’s also Bryer, which, as a sound-alike of Briar, may feel more feminine to some thanks to the Sleeping Beauty connection.
Other fast rising choices (from the Top 20 and slightly beyond) feel new enough to be less traditionally gendered, or are used as gender-neutral or feminine names across the globe. Kasai, Eziah, Chozen, Truce, Ira, Azai, Scottie, Coast, and Hollis are all examples of this.
Elaborate and elaborated girl names
Femininizations and elaborations were stylish in 1925, and there are a number of longer, frillier choices in the 2025 stats. Evelina may be seen as a parallel to Paulina, while Analeia, Kailany, Meilani, and Solana are all more elaborate options. Delve a little further down the charts, and you’ll find Seraphina, Elouise, Julietta, Lenora, Emiliana, and Celina on the up, all rising by at least 100 places.
You might even view Madisson as a elaborated form of Madison, offering up nicknames Issy and Maddie, just as Susanne might have offered Susy and Annie.
Virtue names
Virtues are definitely in, but not the classic Grace, Faith, and Hope that we’re used to. Merritt, Chozen, Truce, and Klarity were all among the Top 20 Fastest Risers, while Boone, Ruthie, and Truett have also sped up the charts.
One-syllable names:
Truce is the only option that really fits this category and while Cal, Coast, Boone, Sol, Ford, Beck, Stone, and Laith saw notable rises, this wasn’t a new or noticeable trend among the Fastest Rising Names.
Names starting with D
There wasn’t a single D name in the Top 20 — and the fastest rising D names, Denim for boys and Darcy for girls, were outside the Top 30 Fastest Risers. It was, unsurprisingly perhaps, the letter K that was (still) trendy in 2025.
There are some similarities that I missed, such as alternative spellings and surname-style names, though the former tend to appear in every data set, while the latter didn’t feel noticeably tied to last year.
It can’t be ignored, however, that there were some obvious differences in trends, with the 2025 list notably including:
Biblical Names beyond the classics
More global names — in particular, Hawaiian and Japanese inspired choices
Names featuring the letter Y
(Often unexpected) double letters
How did my predictions do?
Before I come to any conclusions, let’s take a glance at what happened statistically for the names I predicted might appear among the Fastest Risers.
For those in the Top 1000 or on the official “Names that increased in popularity” list, I will include how many places they rose (or fell). For those that don’t, I will only share the number of babies given the name in 2025 compared to 2024. I’ve also included how alternative spellings of the names have fared, if it feels relevant.
Climbing Up:
Joya → ↑ 25 babies in 2025 // 16 in 2024 ↑
Leonora → ↑ 114 babies in 2025 // 92 in 2025 ↑
Marceline → ↑ 733 babies in 2025 // 607 in 2024 // +82 places↑
Cordelia → ↑ 258 babies in 2025 // 233 in 2024 // +85↑
Violetta → ↑ 196 babies in 2025 // 150 in 2024 ↑
Opaline → ↑ 11 babies in 2025 // 0 in 2024 ↑
Truly (f) → ↑ 61 babies in 2025 // 53 in 2024 ↑
Prue → ↑ 17 babies in 2025 // 10 in 2024 ↑
Verity → ↑ 145 babies in 2025 // 108 in 2024 ↑
Darcy → ↑ 316 babies in 2025 // 265 in 2024 // +121↑
Della → ↑ 533 babies in 2025 // 520 in 2024 // +17↑
Azure (m) → ↑ 40 babies in 2025 // 31 in 2024 ↑
Sky (m) → ↑ 101 babies in 2025 // 100 in 2024 ↑
Earnest → ↑ 25 boys in 2025 // 17 in 2024 ↑
Cove (m) → ↑ 171 boys in 2025 // 168 in 2024 ↑
Wells → ↑ 944 babies in 2025 // 869 in 2024 // +32↑
Cal → ↑ 554 babies in 2025 // 409 in 2024 //+128↑
Boone → ↑ 762 babies in 2025 // 558 in 2024 //+111↑
Falling Down
Paz → ↓ 15 babies in 2025 // 20 in 2024 ↓
Dulce → ↓ 352 babies in 2025 // 438 in 2024 // -106 places↓
Rubi → ↓ 225 babies in 2025 // 227 in 2024 ↓
Emmaline → ↓ 182 babies in 2025 // 198 in 2024 // Emmeline: +16↑
Deborah → ↓ 313 babies in 2025 // 317 in 2024 // -10↓
Rio → ↓ 563 babies in 2025 // 593 in 2024 // -15↓
Nova (m) → ↓ 149 babies in 2025 // 176 in 2024 ↓
Aire → ↓ 20 babies in 2025 // 34 in 2024 ↓
True (m) → ↓ 211 boys in 2025 // 230 in 2024 // Tru: +22↑
Noble → ↓ 144 babies in 2025 // 163 in 2024 ↓
Creed → ↓ 413 babies in 2025 // 467 in 2024 -53↓ // Kreed: +139↑
Riggs → ↓ 329 babies in 2025 // in 2024 //-106↓
Dalton → ↓ 699 babies in 2025 // 732 in 2024 // -15↓
Dorian → ↓ 557 babies in 2025 // 554 in 2024 //-1↓
Out of the 32 names I predicted then, 18 were chosen more often than they were the year prior. Of the remaining 13 names, three have sound-alikes or spelling variations on the rise, so if you do include Kreed, Emmeline, and Tru, that leaves us with nine guesses that were completely off, three that were nearly there, and 18 that rose, though none were truly the fastest. I also seem to be better at predicting girl names over boy names…
Conclusions
The Fastest Rising Names of 100 Years Ago might give you a sense of the type of names that might rise in the future — trends do come and go and what might be considered “ready for revival” shifts with time.
There are some interesting parallels between the lists, but they are far from perfect mirrors.
It would probably be more accurate or productive to look at the names that were actually the most popular a century ago: they are likely the ones best associated with the era and the ones that are more likely to appear on family trees. (Watch out for Gloria, Betty, Virginia, Thelma, and Marion; keep an eye on Clarence, Earl, Howard, Kenneth, and Walter)
The fastest rising names of a year can be a time capsule of what was important or popular in the moment. As such, they will be influenced by world events, celebrities, films, books, music, and societal mood. This is obviously hard to predict, meaning guessing the exact names that will skyrocket is challenging.
It was nevertheless a fun experiment and a good chance to learn about names of the past and take a closer look at the names of right now.
Over to you…
Can you see any similarities between the Fastest Rising Names of 2025 and 1925 that I missed?
What names did you predict would rise up the charts in 2025 — and were you right?
If you had to name a (hypothetical) baby based on the Fastest Rising Names of 2025 and 1925, what would you pick?
I think Akari and Kyomi are beautiful sister names, though Akari is actually from your boys list. I like Benson and Brewer for brothers, but I like Bennett and Brewster a bit better. Using the mother's maiden name as a first name for a child has brought many surnames onto the popular list. Bryer is a surname in my area.
I'm not a fan of unisex names, but they ARE very popular. Guess what sex my newest babies are: Taylor, Finley, Skyler, Rio, Kinsley...
The biggest change in naming babies that I see is that my 1925 era relatives were not called by their real names. Back then, there was no thought given to nicknames before birth. If the son was given the same name as the father, then the boy was called Chip (off the old block), Brick (a red head), Bunky or Skippy. Often, they just called the son by the middle name or Junior.
I think it's a huge improvement now to name a baby the name he'll be known by in school instead of shocking your 5 year old by registering him with a name he thought belonged only to his dad!
I also love that parents decide on a nickname that's actually related to the name on the birth certificate.
Why was Robert called Bobby instead of Robbie? Why was William called Billy? Why was Richard called Dickie? Edgar, called Ned? Now, we say Ed, Rob, Will or Liam, and Rich or Rick.