New Names Showdown 2022: Boys Final

Your votes have brought us to this moment. It’s time for the final contest in the boys’ edition of the New Names Showdown 2022!

First, let’s look back at how July started.

Every year, the US Social Security Administration releases a list of the 1,000 most popular names for boys and the 1,000 most popular names for girls. Inevitably, some names drop off, while others debut for the first time, or return after an absence.

Those new names? Can be fascinating.

Not every name, of course. Some are just slight spelling tweaks of current favorites. Others are names that have teetered on the edge of the rankings for years.

But every time a new list comes, I choose my favorites – ones that represent trends in how we name our children. Possibilities that I think could really catch on. Or names that just plain catch my eye as interesting.

Those eight boys’ names face off, bracket-style, in the summer New Names Showdown.

This year we started with the following names:

Amiri
Benedict
Bowie
Cassian
Evander
Granger
Kylian
Turner

You’ve voted your way through the list, until we’re down to just two finalists!

The winner of this contest will join past champs:

Wilder (2016)
Shepherd (2017)
Wells (2018)
Archie (2019)
Callahan (2020)
Leif (2021)

But before we can vote, we have to catch up on the most recent round of matches.

So let’s review last week’s action!

The unstoppable Benedict crushed Bowie, with an impressive 77% of the tally. Is Cumberbatch stronger than Bowie? Or is the gentlemanly Ben- name just more broadly appealing than the rock icon’s upbeat surname name?

In a much closer contest, Cassian won out over Evander, with just under 54% of the total. Cassian benefits from the Star Wars connection, but both names are quite stylish.

That means our final match-up will be …