The new top 100 American baby names, according to the Social Security office

No one can beat Emma when it comes to baby names in America. This week the Social Security Administration announced its annual list of the most popular baby names in America and Emma has the top spot on the girls’ side for the fifth year in a row. On the boys’ side Liam took the top spot for a second consecutive year.

According to the Social Security Administration, these were the top 20 baby names in America in 2018:

Girls: Emma, Olivia, Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Charlotte, Mia, Amelia, Harper and Evelyn

Boys: Liam, Noah, William, James, Oliver, Benjamin, Elijah, Lucas, Mason and Owen

How do those top 10 lists compare to the top baby names of 2017? Well, the girls’ list is nearly the same except that Mia and Charlotte switched spots, and Harper (a name that fell out of the top ten the previous year) is back and has ousted Abigail. On the boys’ side, Lucas kicked Jacob out of the top 10.

The real changes happened lower down in the data. Let’s take a look at the popular baby names that were trending hard in 2018:

The return of Meghan

In the 1990s the name Meghan (or Megan) was a common sound in the halls of elementary schools, but until very recently the name had sunk just like other names of the era (hi to all the Heathers, Jessicas and Jennifers out there).

As Pamela Redmond Satran, a co-founder of Nameberry, told The Atlantic, “Meghan is one of the 1980s and 1990s names that are becoming mom names, rather than baby names.”

But thanks to the Duchess of Sussex, the name Meghan is now back in a big way.

As The Atlantic reports, this name surged from being the 1,404th most popular name for baby girls in 2017 to the 703rd most popular in 2018. The name’s dramatic rise in popularity mirrors that of the woman who shares it.

“Meghan Markle’s influence is obviously strong enough to give the name a big boost,” says Satran.

The influence of Game of Thrones

The # of U.S. children born in 2018 who have Game of Thrones character names, per new @SocialSecurity data:
Arya 2545
Tyrion 58
Brienne 33
Jorah 30
Sansa 29
Catelyn 21
Ellaria 17
Oberyn 15
Theon 14
Gregor 11
Sandor 10
Khal 9
Daenarys 8
Bran 8
Beric 8
Bronn 7
Samwell 7
Myrcella 6

— Joe Murphy (@joemurph) May 10, 2019

As NBC data journalist Joe Murphy first reported, Arya is the most popular Game of Thrones inspired name in America (and these babies were born and named before our girl met the Night King), but plenty of GoT graced birth certificates in 2018.

“Excluding the Jons and Jaimes, more than 4,500 children were given such names in 2018, up from the 3,800-plus in 2017 and the more than 3,200 in 2016,” Murphy explains.

Arya is in the lead with 2,545 babies sharing the name, and Khaleesi comes in second place with 560 baby girls taking that one. Alternative spellings of the Dothraki title also made the cut. There are 19 girls called Caleesi and 5 little Khaleesies whose parents gave her an extra ‘e’.

How Amazon sunk Alexa

In 2015 6,052 babies were dubbed Alexa, but thanks to Amazon the name now has the distinction of having the swiftest change in popularity. Last year, only 3,053 babies were named Alexa.

As Philip N. Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, once wrote, when Amazon decided to give this name to its virtual assistant, “Alexa essentially ended as a (human) name”.

And as Bloomberg noted last year, it’s not uncommon for tech companies and start-ups to take over names that were once used for babies. Casper is now synonymous with mattresses and Cora (a name that has been steadily rising in popularity for more than a decade) is the name of a tampon company.

Check out the full top 100 list below:

Rank	Boys	Girls
1	Liam	Emma
2	Noah	Olivia
3	William	Ava
4	James	Isabella
5	Oliver	Sophia
6	Benjamin	Charlotte
7	Elijah	Mia
8	Lucas	Amelia
9	Mason	Harper
10	Logan	Evelyn
11	Alexander	Abigail
12	Ethan	Emily
13	Jacob	Elizabeth
14	Michael	Mila
15	Daniel	Ella
16	Henry	Avery
17	Jackson	Sofia
18	Sebastian	Camila
19	Aiden	Aria
20	Matthew	Scarlett
21	Samuel	Victoria
22	David	Madison
23	Joseph	Luna
24	Carter	Grace
25	Owen	Chloe
26	Wyatt	Penelope
27	John	Layla
28	Jack	Riley
29	Luke	Zoey
30	Jayden	Nora
31	Dylan	Lily
32	Grayson	Eleanor
33	Levi	Hannah
34	Isaac	Lillian
35	Gabriel	Addison
36	Julian	Aubrey
37	Mateo	Ellie
38	Anthony	Stella
39	Jaxon	Natalie
40	Lincoln	Zoe
41	Joshua	Leah
42	Christopher	Hazel
43	Andrew	Violet
44	Theodore	Aurora
45	Caleb	Savannah
46	Ryan	Audrey
47	Asher	Brooklyn
48	Nathan	Bella
49	Thomas	Claire
50	Leo	Skylar
51	Isaiah	Lucy
52	Charles	Paisley
53	Josiah	Everly
54	Hudson	Anna
55	Christian	Caroline
56	Hunter	Nova
57	Connor	Genesis
58	Eli	Emilia
59	Ezra	Kennedy
60	Aaron	Samantha
61	Landon	Maya
62	Adrian	Willow
63	Jonathan	Kinsley
64	Nolan	Naomi
65	Jeremiah	Aaliyah
66	Easton	Elena
67	Elias	Sarah
68	Colton	Ariana
69	Cameron	Allison
70	Carson	Gabriella
71	Robert	Alice
72	Angel	Madelyn
73	Maverick	Cora
74	Nicholas	Ruby
75	Dominic	Eva
76	Jaxson	Serenity
77	Greyson	Autumn
78	Adam	Adeline
79	Ian	Hailey
80	Austin	Gianna
81	Santiago	Valentina
82	Jordan	Isla
83	Cooper	Eliana
84	Brayden	Quinn
85	Roman	Nevaeh
86	Evan	Ivy
87	Ezekiel	Sadie
88	Xavier	Piper
89	Jose	Lydia
90	Jace	Alexa
91	Jameson	Josephine
92	Leonardo	Emery
93	Bryson	Julia
94	Axel	Delilah
95	Everett	Arianna
96	Parker	Vivian
97	Kayden	Kaylee
98	Miles	Sophie
99	Sawyer	Brielle
100	Jason	Madeline

[A version of this post was first published May 11, 2018. It has been updated.]

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