The votes are in! We have a new pair of names to add to the list of champions in March Madness Baby Names.
Yes, that’s right – names. Not basketball teams.
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
- JETT
- CREW
- ADRIAN
- ZOHRAN
- CORBIN
- ELIO
- TOWNES
- HUXLEY
- ORRIN
- COVE
- WELLS
- ETHAN
- BLAISE
- ATLAS
- LANDO
- BOONE
GIRLS TOURNAMENT: STARTING WITH THE SWEET SIXTEEN
- TALLULAH
- SCOTTIE
- RUMI
- VALANCY
- CELESTE
- JAMES
- ROMILLY
- SYLVIA
- HARRIET
- AZURA
- DARCY
- LILA
- LILLIAN
- VESPER
- MABEL
- ASTRID
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: ADRIAN VERSUS ETHAN
With a little over 52% of the vote, Adrian defeats Ethan and takes the March Madness Baby Names title for 2026.
GIRLS FINAL MATCH: MABEL VERSUS SYLVIA
In a similarly close match, Mabel took just over 55% of the vote against Sylvia.
It’s easy to imagine both contests going the other way, though, which is what makes March Madness Baby Names so thrilling. (Maybe that’s true in sports, too?)
