Top Baby Names 2024 Revealed! 🎉
What a week
After a few nail-biting hours of refreshing the SSA baby names page on Friday, the new US baby name rankings are here! 🎉
There’s so much to dive into, and we have a whole year to do it. But first, did anyone correctly predict the 2024 Top 10 baby names in last week’s newsletter?
No — not even the Nameberry team got it 100% right in our own predictions. There are a lot of possible combinations in the Top 10, and there’s always the possibility that new names will enter.
Props to the six readers who correctly guessed that Sofia would enter the Top 10: Rachel, Jayne Alexis, Jaelyn, Kaitswiyn, Eagleeyes, and Izzy Bordon. 👏🏻
Not many of us expected Theodore to climb so many places in the boys’ Top 10, but again there are some readers who predicted it could rise as high as number two, three and even one!
Let’s Talk About Leo
My husband: Want to guess the new pope’s name?
Me: Always. Is it one that’s been used before?
Yes.
Is it the name of an apostle?
No.
Thomas?
It’s not an apostle!
Is it biblical?
No.
Is it a saint?
It’s been the name of several popes, so…probably?
Is it Latin?
Yes.
…Paul?
It’s not biblical!
Is it a common name for people nowadays?
Yeah, it’s quite common.
If you met a guy with this name, how old would they be?
Probably a child?
*Thinks* 💡 Leo!
I wasn’t sure, because the only Leo we know is in his thirties.
Yeah, his parents were very avant-garde.
But seriously, it will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this has on Leo as a baby name.
The previous pope, Francis, took a name that was making a comeback when he chose it in 2013, and it has been steady in the rankings ever since — though one wonders if it might have continued on a steeper rise, had it not become a papal name.
Before that, Benedict XVI had an immediate impact on his name for babies, followed by a cautious withdrawal, then a steady rise. The double-pronged attack of Pope and Cumberbatch raised this name out of infamy, and it re-entered the Top 1000 in 2018, after a 50-year gap.
Source: Nancy’s Baby Names
As for Leo? At Number 18 in the US already, it doesn’t have much higher to climb in the charts. My prediction is that it has so much momentum already, the new papal name won’t make much difference its ranking — although it’s possible that related names, like Leon and Leopold, could rise.
Did you miss…?
The Berries are on it with notable names given to only 5 children
Great takes on the trends of 2024
To celebrate Mothers’ Day, the Mom Names of today. Is yours one?
I think this will push Leo up even further — I could see it as number 1. Liam —> Leo makes sense.