Gwenhwyfar Frazier
It’s the winter holiday season and almost time for 2022. It’s a good time to start your holiday shopping, think about what regrets to burn at your NYE bonfire, and tune in to find out what BabyCenter says were the most popular names this year, for the new little souls that joined us.
After 11 years as reigning Queen of the girls’ list, Sophia was finally dethroned by Olivia. Perhaps credit is due to the Courtney-Love-inspired pop star whose #1 hits this year were “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U”?
Liam held strong at the top of the boys’ list for the third year in a row, though there were a couple surprise knockouts lower down on the list, with Levi and Asher displacing Mateo and Logan.
Check out both Top Ten Most Popular Baby Name lists, below!
Maybe because we spent so much time glued to our TVs this year (a coup attempt and a pandemic will do that to you), some of the year’s biggest streaming hits seem to have influenced the popularity of main characters’ names: Wanda was up 54% this year, Agatha 32%, Darcy 11%, and Vision 22%—all on the girls’ list—undoubtedly thanks to WandaVision. Ted Lasso seems to have had a similar influence, with boys’ names Roy (9%), Keeley (15%), and Jamie (10%) all seeing significant increases in popularity during 2021. Bridgerton apparently had a bit of influence as well, seeing as girls’ names Daphne and Eloise saw increases of 13% and 15%, respectively.
Another substantial trend on the rise this year was parents favoring gender-neutral names that were markedly unique: Onyx, Koda, Zyaire, Wilder, Stetson, Tatum, Finley, Eden, Stevie, Logan, and Lennon were among the unique names whose popularity significantly crossed conventional gender lines.
As for the gender-segregated Most Popular Names Lists, though, they turned out like this:
Most Popular Boys’ Names For 2021:
1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Oliver
4. Elijah
5. Lucas
6. Levi (new to top 10)
7. Mason
8. Asher (new to top 10)
9. James
10. Ethan
Most Popular Girls’ Names For 2021:
1. Olivia
2. Emma
3. Amelia
4. Ava
5. Sophia
6. Charlotte
7. Isabella
8. Mia
9. Luna
10. Harper
To see the full list of 2021’s Top 100 Baby Names, or read more about this year’s baby-naming trends, visit BabyCenter.
