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March Madness has arrived! Okay, the first official basketball games start sometime next week. But the March Madness Baby Names tournament has started, with the Girls Opening Round for 2026.
If you’re new here, the tournament takes all the most-read name posts from last year and pits them against each other, bracket-style, until we have two champions: one for boys, one for girls.
The opening rounds are wild and woolly. After all, the most popular girls’ names here include Romilly and Mabel. Topping the boys’ list? Zohran and Townes. It’s not like any other list. But over the years, your votes have chosen some amazing favorites. Past winners include Everett and Arlo, Marigold and Sylvie.
Vote in the girls’ contest here, and look for the boys’ opening round, coming soon.
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ELSEWHERE ONLINE
The top names in Monaco are Bianca and Louis. Love those, but it’s interesting to note that this romance-language-speaking nation also favors names like Charlotte, Clara, and Arthur that are big in the English-speaking world, too.
Random find: singer, artist, and socialite Isabel Getty (yup, that Getty) welcomed a son named Viggo late last year. While searching for her son’s name, I came across the names of more Getty cousins: jewelry designer/socialite Sabine Getty is mom to daughter Gene Honor and son Jupiter Mark. I’m fascinated by their offbeat names.
An enduring question for name fans: what would you name twin girls? If our daughter Clio had a twin sister, I would’ve pushed for Romy. But I’m not sure that’s where we would’ve landed.
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
Aria blends an appealing sound with a musical meaning. A one-two small screen punch pushed Aria to the top of the popularity charts. It’s mellowed a bit since then, but remains a very 21st century choice for a daughter.
Leonidas stepped out of ancient history onto the silver screen, and became the longer Leo name parents choose when Leonardo seems too DiCaprio and Leopold just too eccentric European aristocrat.
Eleven has always struck me as the perfect mix of serious and sombre (think Remembrance Day) but also bright and fun (Nigel’s Spinal Tap turning it up to 11) and now heroic, thanks to Stranger Things. But is it wearable? I say very possibly maybe yes.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading and have a great week!
Your mention of Townes made me realise I didn’t see it in the polls … I checked and it is missing. There are only 6 polls instead of 8 from what I can see in the boys opening round.
Picking just two girl names is incredibly hard! Right now I think I’d go with Arabella and Rhiannon for my imaginary twins.