Next Saturday, the third annual Appellation Mountain March Madness series begins. It’s just like basketball, but with your favorite baby names instead of point guards and college mascots.
In preparation for the tournament, I thought I’d share the top names on the site in 2012.
Let’s look at a few technical details for the interested among you. There are two possible measures to consider: actual page views, and searches. In the past, I’ve tallied them up.
Trouble is that searches lead logically to page views, so counting them probably skews results. I’ve decided to skip searches this time.
Many more girls’ names are requested, featured, and viewed here at AppMtn, so I’ve listed the 40 most popular names for boys, but 85 choices for girls. And there are a handful of names that I hesitate to classify as feminine or masculine, so there’s a tiny category called unisex.
It’s worth noting that some of these names aren’t found on many websites. So Aoyun, Roux, Ender, Twila, and Bindi fare better if only because a search is more likely to lead here than anywhere else. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re our favorite baby names – just ones about which we’ve very, very curious.
On to the names!
FAVORITE BABY NAMES: BOYS’ LIST
- Gray
- Huxley
- Indigo
- Archer
- Otto
- Camden
- Finn
- Cohen
- Soren
- Eamon
- Atticus
- Benton
- Declan
- Atlas
- Etienne
- Dashiell
- Crew
- Nolan
- Ezra
- Ronan
- Cian
- Sullivan
- Jayden
- Arthur
- Elliot
- Winston
- Beckett
- Bram
- Alexander
- Aoyun
- Ender
- Arlo
- Henry
- Wolf
- Cove
- Eli
- Asher
- Tate
- Hugo
- Matteo
FAVORITE BABY NAMES: GIRLS’ LIST
- Elodie
- Esme
- Mila
- Noa
- Indie
- Sloane
- Eithne
- Lila
- Nevaeh
- Romilly
- Clio
- Ottilie
- Adelaide
- Isla
- Lorelei
- Emmeline
- Clementine
- Elowen
- Pixie
- Oona
- Wren
- Colette
- Vivian
- Sabine
- Nina
- Felicity
- Saskia
- Cecily
- Aviva
- Sylvia
- Mireille
- Mackenzie
- Mirabelle
- Carys
- Cora
- Louisa
- Primrose
- Claire
- Magnolia
- Ayelet
- Freya
- Eleanor
- Evelyn
- Ophelia
- Celeste
- Rosalie
- Annika
- Twila
- Beatrix
- Isa
- June
- Remy
- Anneliese
- Emily
- Apple
- Brooklyn
- Bindi
- Milla
- Genevieve
- Blythe
- Elsa
- Lydia
- Clover
- Imogen
- Waverly
- Alba
- Hazel
- Megan
- Anais
- Eloise
- Anneke
- Coco
- Josephine
- Livia
- Saoirse
- Annabel
- Harper
- Vada
- Cordelia
- Juliet
- Eliza
- Poppy
- Tess
- Frances
- Nola
FAVORITE BABY NAMES: UNISEX LIST
- Rowan
- Arden
- Ariel
- Orly
- Phoenix
- Roux
- Ever
- Nico
For March Madness purposes, I’ve decided to permanently retire 2011 victors Louisa and Nathaniel, as well as 2012 champs Arthur and Genevieve. All other names are eligible, even if they competed in years past. Unisex names are excluded from the competition. That last part doesn’t seem completely fair to me, but we’ll try it for 2013. Happily, none of the four were in the Top 16 for their gender this year. This means that the Top 16 on each list will square off beginning Saturday, March 2.
Can’t wait for the first round! Who will you be rooting for?
Gray, Archer, Camden, Finn, Asher, Ezra, Beckett, Atticus, Henry, and Declan are basically the Hipster Top 10 for boys (not necessarily a bad thing — I must admit, I like them all). Arlo and Dashiell get honorable mentions. I love Elliot and Huxley. Ronan and Cove have possibilities, and I see Benton, Nolan, Tate, and Crew getting big. Far and away my favorite from this list is Atlas.
Cohen is despicably offensive and if I ever meet a child with this name I will judge his parents very harshly indeed.
The Hipster Top 10 for girls is certainly Elodie, Sloane, Isla, Clementine, Wren, Imogen, Hazel, Willa, Beatrix, and Josephine. Mila will be the next Maya, Lila the next Lily, and Harper the next Jennifer (seriously). Eleanor, Eliza, Evelyn, Vivian, and Adelaide will see huge jumps, as will Brooklyn (ugh). I adore Carys and Cordelia. Hopefully my beloved Eloise will stay exactly where she is: on-trend but not (yet!) trendy. Fingers crossed she doesn’t climb any higher.
Also, I think Remy is supposed to be in the boys’ category — in which case he’s a favorite along with Atlas.
From the unisex list (all of which truly ARE unisex!), I think Phoenix could be a megastar, with Rowan and Arden close behind. Nico and Ever will stay underused but familiar. I do adore Ariel for a boy, and Roux in the middle place for either gender.
Is it possible I singlehandedly put Atlas on the boys’ list? Ha! I seriously read and re-read your post on him. I’m in LOVE! In fact, he is extra special because my google search on babies named Atlas brought me to Appellation Mountain for the very first time! And I was immediately hooked!
I do realize Atlas will rise due to the popularity of mythological names. I believe he’ll re-enter the Top 1000 very soon, perhaps he did in 2012! But I don’t think he’ll get much higher than he did before. 800s-900s perhaps. At least, I hope he doesn’t get too popular! I’m nervous because I can’t wait to use him….
Haha, I’m convinced I did this too! I reread a couple of the girls names about 20 times each over the course of a month because they were the best (really only) in depth explanations of them.
Gray and Indigo top3 on the boys list, you would think colors would be the next big trend haha.
I agree with the Remy comment, what is it doing on the girls list?
My personal top ten of the boys would be: Atlas, Dashiell, Ezra, Ronan, Arthur, Bram, Henry, Wolf, Eli, and Asher. That’s just in the order of the post. And one has been vetoed by my spouse and another is too close in the family.
And top ten of the girls: Nina, Claire, Twila, Emily, Blythe, Imogen, Hazel, Megan, Saoirse, Eliza. The girls list was much, much, MUCH harder to narrow down.
The boy’s Top Ten is just what survived from when I took out all the ones I didn’t like, the girl’s list required cutting a bunch I was otherwise quite fond of to narrow it down that far! Esme and Eliza were fighting it out to the bitter end and my husband cast the tie-breaker between those two.
I didn’t tell him I didn’t put Clover on the list or he would still be championing it.
My faves on the boys side: Eamon, Declan, Dashiell; from the girls’ list: Romilly, Lorelei and Emmeline. Looking forward to this year’s March Madness!
Hmm, many I like on the girls’ list but no real standouts for me among the boys. I guess I’ll be pulling for Hugo and Tate, and for girls there are at least a dozen I’d be happy to see win: Elodie, Vivian, Anneke, Livia, Eloise, Rosalie, Elowen, Clio…
I’m sorry to see Remy in the girls’ category (not even unisex!) – it’s one of my favourite boys’ names of all time.
Remy is all boy to me too. ray-ME pron.
From top 16 girls I like best:
Elodie, Esme, Mila, Lorelei, Emmeline. Rest of the list contains lots more beauties, some only for English/French speakers.
Colette, Vivian, Sabine, Felicity, Saskia (typical 70’s name here), Cecily,
Sylvia (typical 70’s name here), Mireille, Carys, Louisa, Magnolia, Freya, Eleanor, Evelyn, Rosalie, Annika, June, Elsa, Lydia, Imogen, Waverly, Anais, Eloise,
Josephine, Livia, Annabel, Cordelia, Juliet, Eliza.
Best Boy’s name from top 16:
Etienne (pron. the French way)
Declan
Further down the list I have a soft spot for Hugo.
So many lovely names there. The previous winners, Louisa, Nathaniel, Genevieve and Arthur sound like they could all be siblings. I wonder if this years winners will fit in.
What a bold list, especially for the boys! I’m excited to see my 2012 baby’s middle name on the girl’s list and look forward to voting!
Indie & Atlas!
Wow the top 16 are a wild bunch.
I was served by a young man named Camden at Starbucks yesterday…so it didn’t start with the celebs of last summer. He must have been at least 18.
Indie!