Newfangled Baby Names

Blog by
Last updated: Saturday July 13th, 2019

A few days ago, we brought you names that have gone out of style. I thought it might be a good idea to do the opposite, and find names that are new.

Here is a list of American names that are now in the top 50 for their gender, but that never once appeared in the top 1,000 before 1960.

A few interesting notes:

Once again, there are more women's names (17) than men's names (6) on the list, although the difference is less stark.
The names Madison, Addison, Avery, and Harper appeared as boy names before 1960, but didn't appear as girl names until recently. While it seems that boy names can become girl names, I can't find any examples of the reverse being true.
Dylan was a very obscure name until the poet Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan made the name famous.
The name Aaliyah first entered the top 1,000 in 1994, the year after the recording artist Aaliyah released her first album.

Rank in 2015	Name	First Entered Top 1,000
2	Liam	1967
6	Mia	1964
10	Harper	2004
11	Madison	1985
13	Aiden	1995
16	Avery	1989
20	Jayden	1994
21	Aubrey	1973
23	Zoey	1995
24	Addison	1994
27	Dylan	1966
29	Aria	2000
30	Layla	1972
31	Brooklyn	1990
32	Alexa	1973
35	Riley	1990
42	Skylar	1990
43	Camila	1997
44	Jaxon	1997
45	Paisley	2006
46	Ariana	1978
47	Grayson	1984
48	Aaliyah	1994

13 Comments

Level 66

Jun 12, 2016

Aaliyah? Didn't even know that was a name!

Level 59

Jun 12, 2016

Me neither, learn something new every day

Level ∞

Jun 12, 2016

I didn't either. It's remarkable how it quickly it became popular. It wasn't in the top 1,000 then suddenly the next year it was ranked around 200. I would be interested to know if there are any other celebrities who have had such a profound effect.

Level 67

Jun 12, 2016

I did, but didn't know it was popular.

Level 76

Jun 12, 2016

Interesting article. Liam has been a common name in Ireland since forever; it's fascinating how it seems to have jumped across the Atlantic at some point.

Level 47

Jun 12, 2016

I was about to say that Liam seems out of place. It isn't a new name like most of the others.

Level 82

Jun 13, 2016

You have 23 names listed. 11 of those contain a "y". Not sure why that stuck out to me, but it seems out of proportion to names years ago. My name has a "y" though. :-) Most of these I've gotten used to hearing and seeing, but Paisley is really a name I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Level 57

Jun 16, 2016

I'm curious if other spellings of some names appeared on the list earlier. I would venture a guess that Jackson was in the top 1000 at the very least earlier than Jaxon. Some of the other ones are curious. Zoe, sans y? Which came first? Camilla, or Arianna?

Level 59

Jun 20, 2016

Aubrey and Layla were names of girls in songs at the same time those names entered the top 1000.

Level 75

Sep 16, 2017

When I was growing up in the '50s and '60s, Aubrey was a boy's name and Skylar was spelled Schuyler or Schuylar. As Symmetrik said, Camila was Camilla but only old ladies were named Zoe and in this area it was pronounced with the e silent.

Level 68

Jan 11, 2019

Funny how Drake's name is Aubrey?

Level 73

Jul 17, 2019

So like so?

Level 73

Jul 17, 2019

Layla probably because of the song by eric clapton, brooklyn because beckham did so. And there are more i have some suspicions for