breaking down the data: the most common baby names of 2025
It’s my Super Bowl, aka the day when SSA name data drops. I’m especially interested in this as I’m currently in my third trimester and this baby doesn’t have a name yet. Without futher ado –
Notice a lot of Olivias and Liams running around the playground lately? That’s not likely to change anytime soon.
For the seventh year in a row, Olivia topped the list of baby names for girls in the United States, given to 13,544 infants in 2025. And for the ninth year in a row, Liam is the No. 1 name for baby boys, bestowed on 20,818 newborns, according to new data released from the Social Security Administration.
The ranking of the top 1,000 names is based on parents who applied for Social Security cards for their babies in 2025 — and it reaches all the way back to 1879. Sifting through all that data is an eye-opening dive into what’s trending, what now seems hopelessly dated and the inevitable rise and fall of popular baby names.
Top 10 names
The top 10 girl names in the country are, in order, Olivia, Charlotte, Emma, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Isabella, Evelyn, Sofia and Eliana. That list has basically held steady since 2024; the only new entry belongs to Eliana, which comes in at no. 10.
The top 10 boy names in the country are, in order, Liam, Noah, Oliver, Theodore, Henry, James, Elijah, Mateo and William. There has been no real shake-up in the top 10 boy names either since 2024, with no new names sneaking into the ranking in 2025.
Biggest changes in popularity
Although some names didn’t rank highly, they experienced a huge surge in popularity. Compared to 2024, these girl names experienced the biggest rank gains:
Ailany (from #101 to #14)
Sienna (from #139 to #94)
Amara (#1231 to #98)
Eloise (#64 to #49)
Clara (#78 to #63)
Pop culture often affects name rankings, like with Eloise, the name of a character in the popular Bridgerton series.
New to the top 100 ranking: Ailany, Sienna, Amara, Georgia and Juniper. Ailany, stunningly, climbed from #101 to #14, an almost unprecedented jump. According to Nameberry, Ailany is a modern Hispanic name meaning “high chief; shining light; of the moon.”
On the other hand, Athena, Aailyah, Anna, Allison and Hailey trended downward, falling out of the top 100.
Among baby boys, these names experienced the biggest rank gains from 2024 to 2025:
Eithan (#227 to #97)
Atlas (#101 to #75)
Adriel (#109 to #84)
Cooper (#50 to #27)
Bennett (#60 to #40)
Popular influencers can also affect name rankings. In 2025, Brooklyn McKnight named her son Archer, which rose from #115 to #98.
Eithan’s jump by 130 spots is surprising; according to the Bump, Eithan is a masculine name of Hebrew origin that means “strong,” “firm,” or “long-lived.” It’s an alternate spelling of Ethan or Eitan.
New to the top 100 boys’ ranking: Atlas, Adriel, Arthur, Emiliano, Eithan and Archer. On the other hand, Eli, Amir, Jaxon, Parker, Colton and Adam all fell out of the top 100 ranks.
Names gaining in popularity outside of the top 100
Outside the top 100, Scottie, Elsie, Emerson, Hallie, Evangeline, Margot and Valerie are all gaining steam for baby girls. Among the boys, keep an eye out for Elian, Callum, Charlie, Beckett and Stetson.
Stetson may owe its jump in popularity to the TV show Yellowstone, which features a character named Stetson, while Margot could be a nod to actress Margot Robbie. Scottie is a moniker given to several high-profile babies in recent years, including the daughter of influencers Isaac & Allison Rochell and the daughter of actors Pete Davidson and Elsie Hewitt. In recent years, gender-neutral names seem more popular than ever, which may explain Emerson, Emersyn and Sloane’s jumps.
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We have two girl names I haven't seen jump too far up the list yet: Ripley + Ezra.
Old pop culture reference for the first. Gender-neutral for the second (so maybe we will see people catch on to that one soon?)
I haven't decided if its better to have a name that is searchable or one that gets lost in the sea of same names... I guess we'll find out when they have more of a digital footprint!
But it does make it easier to grab a gmail that is exactly their names!
I’m pregnant with a James (Jamie), so he’ll be helping the name stay in the top ten for 2026!