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 the New Names Showdown 2025?
EVERY YEAR BRINGS NEW TOP NAMES
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. It could be just a year off, a tiny wobble out of the data. But often, it’s decades of hibernation.
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 around 10,000 kids in a single year.)
Many will eventually climb the popularity charts, becoming established favorites.
After all, names don’t skyrocket to #1 – or even #27 or #113 – overnight. It takes time for expectant parents to consider their options.
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 it’s your turn to vote your way through ’em, bracket-style, until just two names are left standing.
In 2025, we started with:
BEST NEW GIRL NAMES
- ROMY (#926)
- HONEY(#935)
- ELSA (#938)
- CAMPBELL (#951)
- TILLY (#953)
- LYANNA (#957)
- ARISBETH (#987)
- MARIELLA (#992)
BEST NEW BOY NAMES
- AZAI (#921)
- BRYER (#866)
- CARLO (#914)
- HEATH (#848)
- LAITH (#973)
- OZIAS (#861)
- ROWDY (#926)
- TRUCE (#991)
As of last week, we had reached the finals! Here’s how they turned out.
RESULTS OF THE FINAL MATCHES
ROMY versus ELSA
With more than 57% of the total, modern-meets-glam Romy defeated Arendelle-by-way-of-Yellowstone Elsa. Romy might be following other unisex(ish) picks like Remy and Rowan into wider use, and I am here for it! But I do think Elsa is ready for a thaw, too, so hopefully we’ll hear more of both names in the future.
HEATH versus BRYER
In a definitive match-up, Heath scored nearly 79% of the vote to take this year’s title. Both Heath and Bryer blend surname style with the natural world. But while Heath has a long history of use, Bryer is a bit of a newcomer, a Bryce-meets-Briar name that might feel a little novel.
That means that Romy and Heath are our 2025 New Names Showdown champions, joining an elite group of names.
WINNING GIRL NAMES
From our first contest in 2016 to today, here are the names that have won each year.
- Romy (2025)
- 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.
- Heath (2025)
- Hollis (2024)
- Rhodes (2023)
- Benedict (2022)
- Leif (2021)
- Callahan (2020)
- Archie (2019)
- Wells (2018)
- Shepherd (2017)
- Wilder (2016)
