These are the top baby names in the U.S. right now

Genevieve Brown
Plume Creative

Picking a baby name is no small matter. It’s one of the first and most important decisions a parent makes for their child, and it’s often made before the baby is born.

On May 10, the Social Security Administration officially announced the most popular baby names of 2023, the most recent list. For the fifth consecutive year, Olivia took the top spot for most popular girl names while Liam took the top spot for most popular boy names. There was only one new name on the list this year: Mateo, which took the No. 6 spot on the list of boy names and bounced out Benjamin, which was the No. 9 name in 2022.

Mateo, which came in at No. 11 in 2022, means ‘gift of God,” according to BabyCenter. An alternate spelling, “Matteo,” ranked 184th in 2022.

Top 10 baby boy names of 2023

  1. Liam

  2. Noah

  3. Oliver

  4. James

  5. Elijah

  6. Mateo

  7. Theodore

  8. Henry

  9. Lucas

  10. William

Top 10 baby girl names of 2023

  1. Olivia

  2. Emma

  3. Charlotte

  4. Amelia

  5. Sophia

  6. Mia

  7. Isabella

  8. Ava

  9. Evelyn

  10. Luna

In addition to the top names, the SSA also identified the “fastest-rising” names of the year. The rise in popularity could be attributed to social media and pop culture, the SSA said in a press release.

“It’s clear that social media stars had a major influence on new parents in 2023. The fastest rising girl’s name, Kaeli, went viral in 2023, rising a whopping 1,692 spots,” the SSA said. “Parents must have really smashed the ‘like’ button for YouTube and TikTok star Kaeli McEwen (also known as Kaile Mae), who routinely promotes a clean, tidy, and neutrally-aesthetic lifestyle.

“On the boy’s side, trending in third place as the boy’s fastest riser, is Eiden — perhaps it was TikTok creator Wyatt Eiden’s 1.6 billion views and over 3 million followers that prompted this name’s meteoric rise.

“Powerful names also proved very attractive to parents in 2023,” the organization wrote in its release. “Emryn made her debut in the Top 1000 baby names after moving up 1,287 spots — Ryn translates to “ruler,” so it is no shock to see Emryn becoming a leader amongst the girls. Meanwhile Chozen, the second fastest rising boy’s name, fought up to number 813 in 2023. The character Chozen becomes a hero in the latest season of the hit Netflix show, Cobra Kai — wax on, wax off!”

Fastest rising baby boy names

  • Izalel

  • Chozen

  • Eiden

  • Cassian

  • Kyren

Fastest rising baby girl names

  • Kaeli

  • Alitzel

  • Emryn

  • Adhara

  • Azari

The SSA determines the most popular baby name through the social security parents apply for when their child is born. The agency began compiling the baby names list in 1997, with names dating back to 1880.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com

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