Drum roll, please!
The votes are in and we have two more champions to join our list of victors in the annual New Names Showdown.
But first, what is all this about?
PICKING THE BEST OF THE NEW
Every year, when the US Social Security Administration updates their popularity data, there are risers and fallers. Some names debut in the US Top 1000 for the very first time. Others return after an absence – sometimes decades and decades long!
Those new and returning names attract a lot of attention, even if they’re only being given to 300 kids or so. (The average Top Ten name is given to 10,000 kids in a single year.)
Many will eventually climb the popularity charts, becoming established favorites.
After all, names don’t become #1 – or even #27 or #113 – overnight. It takes time to catch on.
Appellation Mountain readers excel at spotting those trends.
So every year, after the Social Security Administration releases the new popularity data, I choose eight boys’ names and eight girls’ names. Then you vote your way through ’em, bracket-style, until just two names are left standing.
In 2024, we started with:
BEST NEW GIRL NAMES
- AINARA #870
- ALITZEL #871
- DANIA #853
- ELEANORA #946
- EMRYN #888
- SERAPHINA #974
- SOLANA #934
- WINIFRED #967
BEST NEW BOY NAMES
- BOAZ (#958)
- KENAI #959
- FOSTER #967
- TRUE #980
- VEER #981
- WREN #991
- ULISES #994
- HOLLIS #1000
As of last week, we had reached the finals! Here’s how they turned out.
RESULTS OF THE FINAL MATCHES
SERAPHINA versus ELEANORA
By the slimmest of margins, Seraphina defeated Eleanora. No, really! Seraphina claimed just 51.05% of the vote. Had the polls closed earlier or later, it could have gone the other way.
HOLLIS versus FOSTER
Hollis garnered almost 57% of the vote over Foster. That’s also close! Both of these surname names feel like rising stars, but it’s Hollis that joins our list of champions.
WINNING GIRL NAMES
From our first contest in 2016 to today, here are the names that have won each year.
- Seraphina (2024)
- Marigold (2023)
- Guinevere (2022)
- Etta (2021)
- Elodie (2020)
- Zora (2019)
- Marlowe (2018)
- Sylvie (2017)
- Arden (2016)
WINNING BOY NAMES
And on the boys’ side, here’s the complete list of victors.
- Hollis (2024)
- Rhodes (2023)
- Benedict (2022)
- Leif (2021)
- Callahan (2020)
- Archie (2019)
- Wells (2018)
- Shepherd (2017)
- Wilder (2016)
That’s all for this year’s New Names Showdown. Thank you, as ever, for your votes!
Interesting to note that both Seraphina and Hollis were both the lowest ranking names on their respective lists!
Oh that IS interesting!! Thanks for pointing that out …