Can you guess the top three girls' names and boys' names in the U.S. in 2020?
Asked by
kneesox (
4593)
June 10th, 2021
Without looking it up or seeing a news report, can you guess the most popular baby names of 2020?
I used to follow this stuff out of curiosity. The lists were pretty stable and predictable for a long time. Now?—well, I couldn’t have got any of the top six right.
Your guesses for the two top-threes?
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26 Answers
Just a guess on the boys:
Oliver
Liam
Jackson
My guesses are:
Liam, Noah, Elijah
Emma, Olivia, Sophia
Full disclosure: I have a number of friends having kids right now, and I’ve participated in some of their name-related conversations.
Lilibet Diana After Megan and Harrys birth of the baby recently.
Willian, Harry,
Loike ( after Marvel characters )
For 2020, this is. New listings for 2021 won’t come out until next year.
Blake, Pat, and Jean.
Because…whatever.
Liam, Ethan, Noah
Ava, Olivia, Mia
I’m pretty confident about Liam and Olivia. Not as sure about the others.
Monique
Unique
Antique
Ed
Fred
Dredd
Sophie
Ava
Olivia
Liam
Jacob
Samuel
Some of those suggestions are surprising to me.
A few more guesses and then I’ll post the answers.
My guess is that Emma and Noah are in the top 3.
I just heard on the news the other day that Karen came off the top 1000 popular baby name list.
@jca2 I like the name Karen, what a shame it has been ruined.
Emma is interesting if that is still popular. We had quite a few Emma’s in my generation.
@filmfann Logan I think of the movie Logan’s Run.
@Inspired_2write I bet Diana will make a come back if it hasn’t already.
I think the popularity of Jacob has waned. It makes me sad. What about Ralph and Stewart? I like Ginger and Mary Ann and Gillian for girls.
Completely unrelated, but are the apostrophes needed in the title question?
Mary
Jennifer
Anne
Edward
John
George
Phillip
Trevor
Mark
Emma
Snow
Laura
Breagan
Everly
Ellis
for either sex most likely
Deshawn
Todd
Abdel
Shenayah
Jennifer
Noura
I do not have a finger on the pulse of American baby makers. I will guess:
Michelle
Michael
Here’s the headline that caught my eye:
The name Donald fell to a record low in 2020 during former President Trump’s final year in office
Seen here.
And here’s the part with the top-threes:
“It appears parents chose to stick with the familiar during an unprecedented time, with the top three names for both girls – Olivia, Emma, and Ava – and boys – Liam, Noah, and Oliver – remaining the same for the second year in a row,” the Social Security press office said.
And here’s where you can get the full picture—including looking up popular names for any year in recent history and seeing the change in standings for a name over the years.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
Take a look, for instance, at the changes in popularity for Michael and Mary over the past 60 or 80 years—consistent winners for years and then suddenly, whoops.
The current favorites would have been considered incredibly old-fashioned just a few years ago, and now here they are in the winner’s circle. Noah, my gosh.
I guess the folks who guessed close to the real chart-toppers must be in touch with young parents in a way that many of us are not. Some guesses seem to come from long, long ago. Interesting.
Wow, I only got two wrong. :) I am at the age where many of my peers are getting married and having children. I remember looking up baby names with my sister.
It’s interesting that Oliver and Olivia are both on the list. What is it with names beginning with “Oliv-“ that’s so appealing?
Huh.
I wonder how much effect recent celebrities have on baby names? I’m guessing: a lot.
I notice that if Sofia joined forces/spellings with Sophia, they’d be more numerous than Olivia.
And, I see that names have mainly become more diverse:
In 2020, only the #1 names reach 1%, and the top 20 boys names and top 20 girls names only account for about 10% of the population.
In 1969, 4.66% of boys were Michaels, and all the top 20 boys’ names were over 1%, and the top 20 names together were about 40% of all boys.
In 1969, the top 13 girls’ names were each over 1%, and the top 20 girls’ names together were close to 25% of all girls.
In 1918, 13.7% of boys were John, William or James, and 11.2% of girls were Mary, Helen or Dorothy.
^^ To your point, when I was a branch librarian in the 1970s, there were several “Farrahs” in our storytime.
I did not look it up nor did I see any answers above. Here are my choices.
Girls: Emily, Estelle, Jaden,
Boys: Seth, Jacob, Bradley
I hope Covidia is not on the list.
@janbb Better to be a branch librarian than a Branch Davidian
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