"There's a certain set of parents that believe weapons-inspired names have a renegade spirit, which has been a rising theme among today's trendy baby names," Kihm noted. "Maverick ranks higher than ever, and cowboy-style names like Dutton, Stetson and Boone are climbing the charts."
Some popular picks fall off the map, while others dip down to the bottom only to make a comeback later. And then there are the classics that remain popular to this day. Knowing the Social Security Administration's baby names database goes back to the 1880s, we decided to take a look at parents' choices 100 years ago to see which ones tanked and which have serious staying power.
'Bout 250 Mexican kids in 10 years gonna have to explain why they named Shohei Rodriguez,' one viral post on X quipped after Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs, pitched six shutout innings and struck out 10 Brewers in the NLCS-clinching game. The prediction may not be so far off: Nameberry, the world's largest baby naming site, saw a 1,000% increase in searches on the name Shohei just this week.
The couple announced the birth of their fourth child, a daughter, in a joint Instagram post Oct. 11. The announcement included a video montage of their daughter, featuring clips of Nara Smith cradling the newborn against her chest, Lucky Blue Smith cuddling with his daughter and an adorable shot of the couple's three older children marveling at their sibling. "she's here!" they captioned the post. "welcome to the world little angel." They did not share their daughter's name.
If you think about it, lots of popular baby names today are actually just words or names of other things - think River, Maverick, and Sage. Nature names, flower names, and virtue names are all super trendy right now, but they all fall under one larger category: word names for babies. And while all of the earthy names and animal-inspired monikers are beautiful, if you look outside those common categories, you'll find even more unique and meaningful word names for babies that will have people saying, "Oh, what a beautiful name," your baby's whole life through.
But it is surprising that two of the women (who happen to be best friends) gave their babies very similar names. Mikayla Matthews welcomed her fourth child, Lottie June, on July 17, and Mayci Neeley introduced her third child, Charli May, via Instagram on July 26. Notice any similarities? If not, we'll help connect the dots: Lottie and Charli are both nicknames for Charlotte, and their middle names are both spring months.
In order for something to be considered a main character baby name, it needs to have charisma - to make your little one sound like they could easily front a band, run the board room, or star in the show.
Aiden signifies strength and gumption; Ajani means "He who wins the struggle"; Asa translates to "healer"; Asher symbolizes happiness; Atlas stands for endurance; Caleb indicates whole-heartedness; Conrad, "brave counselor".
