March Madness Baby Names 2023: Boys Opening Round

If it’s March, that means it’s tournament time.

No, not basketball.

I mean … maybe basketball. If that’s your thing.

But around here, March Madness means baby names.

We take the sixteen most-viewed names on the site last year, and vote our way, bracket-style, until we have just one girls’ name and one boys’ names left standing.

One of the quirks of Appellation Mountain? Because a name like Huxley gets as much attention as James, both can make the most popular list. (And this year, that’s just what happened.)

Still, the names that win the whole contest? They tend to be a little more mainstream – and often, just slightly ahead of the curve when it comes to popularity.

Past March Madness Baby Names winners are as follows:

• 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

 *After Cora’s back-to-back wins, readers voted to remove any winning name from future years’ competitions.

And that brings us to this year’s competition.

MARCH MADNESS BABY NAMES 2023: BOYS OPENING ROUND

JAMES V RONAN

OTTO V JULES

KAI V HAL

HUXLEY V TORIN

PHOENIX V HAYES

KOA V COSMO

WESLEY V BLAISE

JONES V WELLS

Thank you for voting!

Polls stay open through Wednesday, March 15th. Check back on Saturday, March 18th to see if your favorite names advance – and, of course, to vote in the next round!