Social Question

kneesox's avatar

Can you guess the top three girls' names and boys' names in the U.S. in 2020?

Asked by kneesox (4593points) June 10th, 2021
26 responses
“Great Question” (3points)

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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Answers

janbb's avatar

Just a guess on the boys:

Oliver
Liam
Jackson

janbb (62859points)“Great Answer” (4points)
SavoirFaire's avatar

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.

SavoirFaire (28831points)“Great Answer” (4points)
Inspired_2write's avatar

Lilibet Diana After Megan and Harrys birth of the baby recently.
Willian, Harry,
Loike ( after Marvel characters )

Inspired_2write (14486points)“Great Answer” (1points)
kneesox's avatar

For 2020, this is. New listings for 2021 won’t come out until next year.

kneesox (4593points)“Great Answer” (1points)
JLoon's avatar

Blake, Pat, and Jean.

Because…whatever.

JLoon (8568points)“Great Answer” (1points)
Demosthenes's avatar

Liam, Ethan, Noah
Ava, Olivia, Mia

I’m pretty confident about Liam and Olivia. Not as sure about the others.

Demosthenes (14922points)“Great Answer” (2points)
ucancallme_Al's avatar

Monique
Unique
Antique

Ed
Fred
Dredd

ucancallme_Al (1013points)“Great Answer” (4points)
JLeslie's avatar

Sophie
Ava
Olivia

Liam
Jacob
Samuel

JLeslie (65412points)“Great Answer” (0points)
filmfann's avatar

Logan
Hunter
Brandon

filmfann (52220points)“Great Answer” (1points)
kneesox's avatar

Some of those suggestions are surprising to me.

A few more guesses and then I’ll post the answers.

kneesox (4593points)“Great Answer” (0points)
jca2's avatar

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 (16252points)“Great Answer” (1points)
JLeslie's avatar

@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.

JLeslie (65412points)“Great Answer” (1points)
Hawaii_Jake's avatar

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?

Hawaii_Jake (37335points)“Great Answer” (0points)
Zaku's avatar

Mary
Jennifer
Anne

Edward
John
George

Zaku (30353points)“Great Answer” (1points)
ragingloli's avatar

Billy Ray
Jim Bob
Cletus

ragingloli (51958points)“Great Answer” (2points)
Patty_Melt's avatar

Phillip
Trevor
Mark

Emma
Snow
Laura

Patty_Melt (17513points)“Great Answer” (0points)
anniereborn's avatar

Breagan
Everly
Ellis

for either sex most likely

anniereborn (15511points)“Great Answer” (0points)
rebbel's avatar

Deshawn
Todd
Abdel

Shenayah
Jennifer
Noura

rebbel (35547points)“Great Answer” (0points)
Call_Me_Jay's avatar

I do not have a finger on the pulse of American baby makers. I will guess:
Michelle
Michael

Call_Me_Jay (13846points)“Great Answer” (1points)
kneesox's avatar

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.

kneesox (4593points)“Great Answer” (2points)
Demosthenes's avatar

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?

Demosthenes (14922points)“Great Answer” (1points)
Zaku's avatar

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.

Zaku (30353points)“Great Answer” (1points)
janbb's avatar

^^ To your point, when I was a branch librarian in the 1970s, there were several “Farrahs” in our storytime.

janbb (62859points)“Great Answer” (2points)
LuckyGuy's avatar

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.

LuckyGuy (43689points)“Great Answer” (0points)
filmfann's avatar

@janbb Better to be a branch librarian than a Branch Davidian

filmfann (52220points)“Great Answer” (1points)
janbb's avatar

@filmfann So true!

janbb (62859points)“Great Answer” (1points)

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