These Are The Hottest Baby Names Of 2016

Nameberry released its annual list.
onebluelight via Getty Images

As 2016 draws to a close, baby naming experts are reflecting on the year’s data. Nameberry released its annual list of most popular names, based on the number of visitors to individual name pages on the website.

It seems Olivia bumped Charlotte to become number one among Nameberry’s popular baby names for girls in 2016. A Shakespearean name meaning “olive tree,” Olivia is number two on the official popularity lists for both the U.S. and England. While it’s unfailingly on the Nameberry top 10 names roundup, this is Olivia’s first appearance at the head of the list.

Ezra continues its reign as the number one boys’ name, a position the Biblical name meaning “help” first claimed last year. Ezra barely squeaked onto the official U.S. top 100 in 2015, but we predict it may take over for Noah at the top of the list within the decade.

Hottest New Names for Girls

The four top names for girls ― Olivia, Amelia, Charlotte, and Ava ― also held the top four places on the list in 2015, but five of the other six top 10 names for girls are new: Isabella, Arabella, Aurora, Mia, and Adeline. Isla remains in the top 10.

While Isabella and Mia are longtime top 10 names on the official U.S. lists, Arabella, Aurora, and Adeline are three feminine vintage girls’ names we see heading straight up over the coming years.

‘A’ is also the first initial of two other stylish girls’ making their first appearance on Nameberry’s top 100 list, Amara and Annabelle. Other names worth watching that are new to the girls’ Top 100: Cecilia, Freya, Jade, Ophelia, and Willow.

The hottest names on the girls’ popularity list, with the number of places they’re up this year, are:

Sadie, +47

Elise, +47

Isabella, +39

Emilia, +35

Julia, +34

Astrid, +34

Thea, +27

Lydia, +27

Eloise, +27

Josephine, +23

Hottest New Names for Boys

The seven top-ranking names for boys stay the same with some slight shifts in order. They are: Ezra, Asher, Declan, Atticus, Oliver, Milo, Silas. Numbers 8, 9, and 10 on the Top 10 are all new, with Jack, Levi, and Wyatt replacing Jude, Henry, and Jasper.

The boys’ names that have risen the furthest on the top 100 include both masculine stalwarts and newcomers. With the number of places they’ve risen, the hottest boys’ names are:

Thomas, +67

Matthew, +58

John, +54

Xavier, +54

Aryan, +49

Maxwell, +45

Connor, +39

Elijah, +39

Julian, +35

Tobias, +34

There are some very interesting boys’ names new to the Nameberry top 100 list this year, notably Abel, Alistair, Bennett, Cassius, Harvey, Hugo, Killian, Knox, Landon, and Lucian.

As noted, Nameberry’s “Popular Baby Names list measures which of the website’s individual name pages received the most of the nearly 300 million page views in 2016. These names that attract the most interest from visitors can reflect name trends and popularity in the years ahead. The full top 100 lists for boys and girls are below and the top 1000 can be found on the Popular Baby Names page.

Top 100 Names for Girls 2016

  1. Olivia
  2. Amelia
  3. Charlotte
  4. Ava
  5. Isla
  6. Isabella
  7. Arabella
  8. Aurora
  9. Mia
  10. Adeline
  11. Penelope
  12. Eleanor
  13. Cora
  14. Rose
  15. Aria
  16. Hazel
  17. Violet
  18. Luna
  19. Claire
  20. Emma
  21. Alice
  22. Thea
  23. Maeve
  24. Lucy
  25. Imogen
  26. Nora
  27. Scarlett
  28. Genevieve
  29. Elizabeth
  30. Audrey
  31. Ophelia
  32. Mila
  33. Ella
  34. Chloe
  35. Esme
  36. Sadie
  37. Evangeline
  38. Ivy
  39. Astrid
  40. Grace
  41. Khaleesi
  42. Eloise
  43. Caroline
  44. Aurelia
  45. Lydia
  46. Stella
  47. Emily
  48. Maya
  49. Jane
  50. Elise
  51. Lila
  52. Adelaide
  53. Emilia
  54. Maisie
  55. Iris
  56. Amara
  57. Ellie
  58. Clara
  59. Beatrice
  60. Sophia
  61. Anna
  62. Julia
  63. Elodie
  64. Mae
  65. Harlow
  66. Eliza
  67. Isabel
  68. Evelyn
  69. Josephine
  70. Zara
  71. Seraphina
  72. Jade
  73. Willow
  74. Zoe
  75. Matilda
  76. Sienna
  77. Hannah
  78. Madeline
  79. Poppy
  80. Abigail
  81. Elsie
  82. Ada
  83. Phoebe
  84. Willa
  85. Mabel
  86. Molly
  87. Margaret
  88. Eliana
  89. Evie
  90. Juliet
  91. Freya
  92. Naomi
  93. Cecilia
  94. Annabelle
  95. Leah
  96. Eva
  97. Lily
  98. Gemma
  99. Daisy
  100. Rebecca

Top 100 Names for Boys 2016

  1. Ezra
  2. Asher
  3. Declan
  4. Atticus
  5. Oliver
  6. Milo
  7. Silas
  8. Jack
  9. Levi
  10. Wyatt
  11. Henry
  12. Jasper
  13. Leo
  14. Elijah
  15. Sebastian
  16. Theodore
  17. Caleb
  18. Ethan
  19. Matthew
  20. Benjamin
  21. Oscar
  22. Bodhi
  23. Eli
  24. Xavier
  25. Liam
  26. Felix
  27. Zachary
  28. Miles
  29. Jacob
  30. William
  31. Thomas
  32. Austin
  33. Alexander
  34. Axel
  35. Luke
  36. Andrew
  37. Julian
  38. John
  39. Nathaniel
  40. Isaac
  41. Aryan
  42. Callum
  43. Finn
  44. Samuel
  45. Soren
  46. Roman
  47. Luca
  48. Maxwell
  49. James
  50. Daniel
  51. Josiah
  52. Isaiah
  53. Tobias
  54. Gabriel
  55. Ronan
  56. Charles
  57. Nolan
  58. Lincoln
  59. Gideon
  60. Harrison
  61. Connor
  62. Arthur
  63. Beckett
  64. Lachlan
  65. Jonah
  66. Harry
  67. Wesley
  68. Archer
  69. Lucian
  70. Grayson
  71. Graham
  72. Joseph
  73. Hugo
  74. Jude
  75. Ryker
  76. Owen
  77. Nathan
  78. Christian
  79. Jackson
  80. Simon
  81. Landon
  82. Kai
  83. David
  84. Griffin
  85. Maddox
  86. Alistair
  87. Abel
  88. Cassius
  89. Lewis
  90. Nicholas
  91. Zane
  92. Bennett
  93. George
  94. Theo
  95. Louis
  96. Vincent
  97. Ryder
  98. Knox
  99. Killian
  100. Harvey

Nameberry is the baby names website created by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, the authors of ten groundbreaking books on names including Cool Names for Babies and The Baby Name Bible. For more information, email pam@nameberry.com.

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