The calendar reads March, and that means it must be tournament season. Basketball, mostly.
But it doesn’t have to be all basketball. Here at Appellation Mountain, we hold an annual March match-up 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
- Callum and Maisie in 2024
- Sullivan and Alice in 2025
*When the contest first started, I allowed past winners to compete in subsequent years … and then Cora won, back-to-back. So we took another vote, deciding that names that won had to retire from future rounds.
2026 NAMES COMPETING
Every year, the most popular names at Appellation Mountain compete to join this list of March Madness victors. The names that compete were the most-viewed in the prior calendar year, from January 1st through December 31st of 2025.
- JETT
- CREW
- ADRIAN
- ZOHRAN
- CORBIN
- ELIO
- TOWNES
- HUXLEY
- ORRIN
- COVE
- WELLS
- ETHAN
- BLAISE
- ATLAS
- LANDO
- BOONE
Time to start voting! As in March Madness, contests are determined by rank. (So the most-viewed name, Jett, is the top seed. The first match-up pits #1 Jett against #16 Boone.) But for this contest, that doesn’t necessarily lead to an advantage.
JETT versus BOONE
CREW versus LANDO
ADRIAN versus ATLAS
ZOHRAN versus BLAISE
CORBIN versus ETHAN
ELIO versus WELLS
TOWNES versus COVE
HUXLEY versus ORRIN
THANKS FOR VOTING!
Polls remain open until Wednesday, March 11th. Check back on March 14th to see if your favorites advance – and, of course, to vote in the next round!
This happens every year, the names I don’t like are paired together and the ones I do are paired together.
I *so* hear this, which is why I make myself follow a very strict ranking. Otherwise I would absolutely monkey around with the match-ups. It’s too tempting!!
Am I missing something? I can’t see the polls for Townes, Huxley, Orrin or Cove