March Madness Baby Names 2024: Boys Opening Round

If it’s March, that means it must be tournament season. Basketball, mostly.

But why does it have to be all basketball? There are plenty of ways to compete, and Appellation Mountain hosts one that’s just a little different. Instead of elite athletes at powerhouse sports schools, we focus on – what else? – names.

Readers vote their way through the most popular names at Appellation Mountain in the prior calendar year, until we have two winners – one for the boys, and one for the girls.

PAST MARCH MADNESS BABY NAMES CHAMPIONS

Wondering which names have won this contest in years past?

• Nathaniel and Louisa in 2011
• Arthur and Genevieve in 2012
• Archer and Isla in 2013
• Everett and Cora in 2014
• Finn and Cora in 2015*
• Theodore and Sylvie in 2016
• Leo and Wren in 2017
• Rowan and Eliza in 2018
• Arlo and Margot in 2019
• Caspian and Tess in 2020
• Raphael and Magnolia in 2021
• August and Marigold in 2022
• James and Gemma in 2023

2024 NAMES COMPETING

Every year, the most popular names at Appellation Mountain compete to join this list of March Madness champs. The names that compete were the most-viewed in the prior calendar year. That means January 1st through December 31st of 2023.

*There’s one difference between this tournament and the ones with basketballs. (Okay, more than one, but this matters most.) Past winners cannot compete in future years. We made that rule after Cora won back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2015. Hence the * after the 2015 listing.

That brings us to this year’s names, drawn from this list:

• KAI
• HUXLEY
• OTTO
• KOA
• RHODES
• CALLUM
• EVREN
• SULLIVAN
• ST. JOHN
• CASSIAN
• COSMO
• BLAISE
• WESLEY
• ZEV
• HAL
• EVANDER

Okay, time to vote! Just like the basketball version, match-ups are based on rank, so the sixteenth most-viewed name on the site faces off against the top most-viewed name. That sounds like it could be an advantage, and it surely is for sports … but I’m not sure it works out quite that way here.

KAI versus EVANDER

HUXLEY versus HAL

OTTO versus ZEV

KOA versus WESLEY

RHODES versus BLAISE

CALLUM versus COSMO

EVREN versus CASSIAN

SULLIVAN versus ST. JOHN

THANKS FOR VOTING!

Polls remain open until Monday, March 18th. Check back on March 19th to see if your favorites advance – and, of course, to vote in the next round!