You know you’re curious! Here’s which baby names came out on top this year.
These Are the Most Popular Baby Names of 2024
Published on Oct. 30, 2024
It’s everyone’s favorite time of year! All the Top 10 and “Best of” lists are starting to flood your feed—including the best, most popular and most unique baby names of the year. The parenting experts at BabyCenter just released their brand-new list of the 100 most popular baby names of 2024, which are based on more than 500,000 monikers registered by parents who use BabyCenter’s site or app.
So what are the latest baby-naming trends? Did your kids’ names make the list? What about yours? It doesn’t matter if you’ve got babies on the brain, you’re currently expecting or you’re happily child-free—you’ll still want to know the details. And we have them all right here.
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What are the most popular baby names of 2024?
Drumroll, please: Olivia earned the No. 1 spot on the list of baby-girl names, while Noah edged out the competition among the many boy names to land on top. Even more interesting? Olivia also ranks as the top girl name when it comes to the top baby names by state, taking the top slot in 34 states out of 50!
Here are the results at a glance:
The most popular girl names of 2024
- Olivia
- Amelia
- Emma
- Sophia
- Charlotte
- Isabella
- Ava
- Mia
- Ellie
- Luna
The most popular boy names of 2024
- Noah
- Liam
- Oliver
- Elijah
- Mateo
- Lucas
- Levi
- Ezra
- Asher
- Leo
What changed from 2023’s list?
If you’re experiencing a little déjà vu, it’s not your imagination: Olivia and Noah were also the most popular names on BabyCenter’s 2023 list. There also wasn’t a lot of movement in the rest of the top 10. In fact, the top seven baby names for boys are the same. Over in the girl camp, it’s a similar story, though a few names have swapped places. (Looking at you, Amelia and Emma, and Isabella and Ava.)
The biggest change? The top 10 debut of Ellie! This cool girl name jumps six spots from last year to grab the ninth spot in 2024. What did it replace? The vintage name Evelyn, which is now in the No. 11 spot.
The name Ellie is a good example of the baby-naming trend of using nicknames for names, according to Rebekah Wahlberg, a baby-name trends specialist at BabyCenter. It’s a shorter version of Eleanor, Ellen, Elizabeth, Elaine and Eloise, among others. Another reason for Ellie’s rise? “The popularity of The Last of Us, a video-game franchise turned HBO series whose teen protagonist is named Ellie,” Wahlberg says.
What are some new additions to the list?
Several new monikers landed in the top 100 for the very first time. For girls, it’s Ember (No. 90) and Oakley (No. 96). On the boys’ side, the three new debuts are Walker (No. 79), Bennett (No. 84) and Adriel (No. 100).
What other baby-name trends did BabyCenter notice?
The main baby-naming trend is variety, which is very different than the popular names we grew up with back in the day. “Names today are less ubiquitous than ever before,” Wahlberg says. “For example, where there used to be three Sarahs in one class, we now have an Olivia, an Emma and a Luna. Popular names are deconsolidating as parents choose from a wider variety of names.”
Parents are also looking farther afield for unique names that are embued with meaning. “Parents are very drawn to names with religious significance. For example, both Ezra and Levi are prophets in the Bible,” Wahlberg says. “But rather than falling back on your traditional Johns or Michaels, they’re looking for names that feel fresh and new.”
Which once-popular names have fallen out of favor in 2024?
Speaking of Sarah, this longtime favorite has left the top 100 after residing there for more than 60 years. “BabyCenter analyzes historical data in the United States back to 1880, and we’ve found Sarah to be a top 100 name nearly that entire time,” Wahlberg says. “It only dropped outside the top 100 between 1954 to 1961.”
But this name isn’t quite gone. Sarah’s common nickname, Sadie, has been moving up the list in recent years, Wahlberg explains, and is at No. 63 this year.
About the expert
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Sources:
- BabyCenter: “Most popular baby names of 2024”
- Rebekah Wahlberg, baby-name trends specialist at BabyCenter; email interview, Oct. 28, 2024
