March Madness Baby Names 2025: The Winners

The votes are in! We have a new pair of names to add to the list of champions in March Madness Baby Names.

In what, you ask?

Every March, we take the sixteen most-viewed boys’ names and sixteen most-viewed girls’ names from the prior calendar year. In a bracket-style competition, we vote our way through until we have our set of champions.

BOYS TOURNAMENT: STARTING WITH THE SWEET SIXTEEN
GIRLS TOURNAMENT: STARTING WITH THE SWEET SIXTEEN
THE NEW NAMES JOIN PAST CHAMPIONS
BOYS FINAL MATCH: SULLIVAN VERSUS OTTO
GIRLS FINAL MATCH: ALICE VERSUS FLORA

BOYS TOURNAMENT: STARTING WITH THE SWEET SIXTEEN

CORBIN
ALADAR
JETT
SULLIVAN
ORRIN
ADRIAN
RHODES
OTTO
ATLAS
ST. JOHN
CASSIAN
TORIN
SUFJAN
ASA
ZAKAI
CHOSEN

GIRLS TOURNAMENT: STARTING WITH THE SWEET SIXTEEN

TALLULAH
JAMES
VALANCY
KELSEY
DULCIE
AZURA
NORI
ALICE
ALIFAIR
SASKIA
PARALEE
CALISTA
NOA
POPPY
FLORA
ZONA

THE NEW NAMES JOIN PAST CHAMPIONS

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
Callum and Maisie in 2024

*In 2015, Cora defended the title. After that, the Appellation Mountain community decided that no past winner could compete in future matches.

BOYS FINAL MATCH: SULLIVAN VERSUS OTTO

With almost 57% of the vote, Sullivan defeats Otto and takes the March Madness Baby Names title for 2025.

Sullivan beat #1 seed Corbin in the semi-finals, so the name has definitely earned the top spot.

I’m guessing we might see Otto again next year!

GIRLS FINAL MATCH: ALICE VERSUS FLORA

In a nearly identical result, Alice took just over 56% of the vote against Flora.

Alice has felt like a clear favorite, ever since it triumphed over top seed Tallulah in the opening round.

It’s easy to imagine this contest going the other way, though, which is what makes March Madness Baby Names so thrilling. (Maybe that’s true in basketball, too?)