The top baby names of 2019—so far

Nameberry’s list of top baby names 2019 is in for the first quarter of the year, with two surprising new names taking the lead.

Posie, a charming vintage floral name that has never ranked among the U.S. Top 1000, takes Nameberry’s top spot for girls so far in 2019. And Milo, an ancient name that has been vaulting up the official U.S. popularity list since 2001, is the new favorite name for boys.

We calculate our popularity list based on which names attracted the most of the 11 million views of our name pages so far this year.

Nameberry’s top baby names for girls and boys in 2019 are:

Girls

1. Posie
2. Isla
3. Olivia
4. Aurora
5. Maeve

Boys

1. Milo
2. Jasper
3. Atticus
4. Theodore
5. Asher

Posie replaces Olivia, the top girl name for 2018, while Milo takes the place of Atticus, 2018’s number one spot for boys. Aurora and Maeve are other new entrants to the girls’ top five, while Theodore is a new name for boys.

Posie, which can also be spelled Posy and Posey, represents the confluence of several baby name trends. It’s a vintage name, a nature name and a nickname-name. Posie can be used on its own or might be a short form of such fashionable proper names as Penelope or Josephine. Fewer than 50 baby girl received all three spellings of the name in the U.S. in 2017.

Milo, which has roots in both Latin and Old German and can mean either soldier or merciful, is the name of an ancient Olympic wrestler and of Milo Ventimiglia of the popular TV show This Is Us. It ranks number 224 in the U.S.

Beyond the number one names, we see these names ranking at the top of their fashionable categories:

Popular names most likely to keep succeeding: Olivia and Jack

Olivia has been a favorite with Nameberry visitors and parents around the world for many years now, ranking among the U.S. Top 10 since 2001 and standing at number three on Nameberry’s 2019 list. Jack is the top boy name in Scotland and Ireland and ranks number seven among boys’ names for 2019. Other classics with staying power: Charlotte at number 10 and Oliver at number 14.

Top ancient names: Aurora and Atticus

Names from Ancient Rome and Greece and from ancient mythology around the world are fashionable right now. Aurora, goddess of the dawn and number four on the girls’ list, and Atticus, an important Roman literary figure and number three for boys, lead the pack. Other ancient names destined to be hot in 2019 are Freya, Norse goddess of love, beauty, and fertility whose name ranks number 18 or girls, and Cassius, an Ancient Roman historian as well as the would-be assassin of Julius Caesar and the number 30 boys’ name.

Leading imports: Maeve and Finn

The Irish imports Maeve and Finn, both names of important figures of Irish mythology, rank highest in this category. Maeveis the number five girl name for 2019 so far, with Finn number eight for boys. Also popular is Amara, the number seven girls’ name with roots in several cultures from Indian to African to Italian. Aarav, a Hindi boys’ name meaning “peaceful,” ranks 11 on Nameberry’s 2019 list and 536 in the U.S.

Most fashionable classic names: Cora and Theodore

The ancient Greek Cora has been jumping up both the Nameberry and the U.S. popularity lists in the past few years, standing at number six for 2019. Theodore, another historic Greek name that can be shortened to Theo or Ted, is number four for boys. Runners-up in this category are Eleanor, number 15, and Henry, number nine.

New biblical favorites: Adah and Asher

The trendy Ava has given way to the more substantial Adah, the name of the first female in Genesis after Eve as well as of the wife of Esau. Adah is number 24 on the 2019 girls’ list. Asher is a Nameberry favorite name—it’s number five on the 2019 list but has ranked as high as number one—that’s in the U.S. Top 100. In the Bible, Asher is one of the 12 sons of Jacob.

Most eloquent literary names: Ophelia and Silas

Though Shakespeare’s Ophelia and George Eliot’s Silas Marner are both tragic characters, their names are finding new favor. Silas, 2019’s number six boy name, is a New Testament saint’s name derived from Sylvanus, the Roman god of trees. Ophelia, number 12, is rooted in the Greek language but was invented by an Italian poet in the 16th century and adopted by Shakespeare for Hamlet. A strong runner up is Lyra, the name of the heroine of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, ranking at number 47 among girl names for 2019.

Originally posted on Nameberry.

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