The Most Popular Names in the US: May 2026 Update

Let’s talk about the most popular baby names in the United States now.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) updated their popularity data this morning.

At first glance, this year looks so much like the last few years, with very minimal movement in the US Top Ten. But beneath the surface? Dramatic change is underway.

In other words?

A stable, even stagnant Top Ten obscures a fascinating and diverse list of names parents are choosing now.

A few things to know about the official reporting:

• The SSA treats each individual spelling of a name separately. Sophia and Sofia both rank in the US Top Ten. Combined, that means the sound is even more popular.
• Similarly, a name and its most common nickname(s) can rank separately. If your child’s legal name is Theodore, that’s a completely separate name from Theo … even if you only bust out the full three-syllables when you really mean it.
• They count boys’ names and girls’ names separately. So Rowan ranked #59 for boys and #249 for girls. Even if you would never consider a name unisex, it’s worth checking both the girls’ and boys’ lists to see how your future child’s name might be perceived.

BIG PICTURE BABY NAME TRENDS

These trends have applied for years. Love ’em or hate ’em, this is the landscape in which the children of 2026 will wear and understand their names.

Let’s start with how we think about naming:

1. Fewer children receive the most common names. Only about 75% of boys and 67% of girls received a Top 1000 name. Those numbers have held pretty steady for the last few years, but in general, the percentages continue to drift lower.
2. Smaller families change the way we think about naming. In era when nearly everyone anticipating having half-a-dozen children, you might be more open to choosing an honor name for your firstborn. Or maybe you’d lean on traditional customs, like naming your child for the saint’s feast day on which they were born. But when our family is likely to be small, we put more thought into each individual choice. This, in turn, influences larger families, too! Now every name is a custom design, layered with meaning and compromise.
3. We’re looking for names that express our values, personalities, and experiences. All of that extra effort isn’t a bad thing. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to express ourselves. If we create a whole Pinterest mood board to repaint our living room, why wouldn’t we put even more effort into a name choice?
4. Parenting can be an anxious business. The flip side, of course: it’s so, so good that we can choose names that reflect our values and interests. It’s challenging to feel pressure to come up with something that feels original, but not too weird; that our child won’t have to share, but also won’t have to spell or explain.

And a few more, that reflect language and cultural change:

1. The influence of Spanish on American names is subtle, but significant. American parents love flowing, liquid names, and I suspect this reflects the heavy influence of Spanish in many of our communities. To be clear: I’m here for this. Language changes. As Spanish becomes an increasingly global language, even non-Spanish speakers adapt.
2. Cultural changes have opened the door to truly unisex names. Of course, lots of things are changing. (Always and forever.) As our ideas about gender and identity shift, a younger generation is far less concerned about separating names into neat lists for boys only and girls only. You might personally perceive Tate as feminine (because McRae) or find Noa and Micah for girls needlessly confusing. But they’re options available to us, and parents can easily feel the opposite about any name.
3. We live in a casual moment. This is cyclical. We’ve had Jack-not-John moments before. And in some ways, the trend is at odds with flowing, romantic names encouraged by Spanish language influence. But mostly it means that your Sadie can easily same classroom with an Eliana, and Theo might be Theodore – or not.
4. Our world is ever-more diverse and interconnected, and we want our children’s names to reflect this reality. And we have the freedom to choose names that reflect our children’s roots without fear of penalty.

INTRIGUING HINTS IN THE DATA

For years, I’ve predicted the return of crunch and grind. At some point, the only way to make a statement is to name your baby Ethel. So far that’s not happening in a big way, but the numbers consistently show choices like Agnes advancing. Winifred even returned to the rankings this year! But it’s still a tiny, too-daring step for most families – so far.

Some of us are naming Bridgerton characters. More of us are casting the next Star Wars sequel. For every Cordelia or Benedict, there are half-a-dozen kids with names like Sol, Jasai, Akari, and Kyomi.

Has online name culture finally broken through? One of the curious things about naming sites: our audience can skew young. And old! A big part of the AM community is years away from naming a child, or more likely to be welcoming grandchildren. But, but, but … all those kids who grew up scrolling Instagram for name ideas could grow up and welcome children eventually. Could Odette’s debut in the US Top 1000 reflect the name’s wild popularity on naming sites a decade ago?

And two more even bigger-picture big-picture trends:

We’ve always been creative with our daughter’s names. Now we’re open to fresh, new choices for our sons, too. Nico, Ayan, Kasai. This is not your father’s names list.

It’s not about names. It’s about sounds. To a great degree, this has always been true. But in our mix-and-match moment, it’s more powerful than ever. Names ending with -AI and -LANI are making their mark now. What else could follow?

Are there trends you’re watching now?