Hot Trendy Baby Names for Girls

Up and Coming Popular Names Rising to the American Top 10 List

Dec 27, 2007

A Cute Baby Girl, María Belén Vallarino, Stock Xchange

Looking for an unusual baby girl name that won't suddenly be on top of the charts next week? Here are some of the names that are quickly becoming more popular.

Popular name trends can come and go very quickly, especially for baby girls in the United States This wasn't the case throughout most of the 20th century, when established names such as Mary, Dorothy, and Linda remained popular for decades or even for generations before falling out of favor. Today, people name baby girls like they shop for clothes-- they sweep up the trendy names while they're hot on the shelf and lose interest when the trends change. Today, it's very common for a name that was rare a decade ago to become the latest craze.

Of course, because name trends change so quickly, parents often are not aware that they are giving their baby girl a trendy name. A parent hears a "unique" name and falls in love with it-- only to discover that other parents fell in love with the name too, and there are dozens of children in town with that name. Often, people choose names that sound a little like a popular name with hopes that this name will be less trendy, but sometimes the "alternative" name takes off as well. This happened with Jessica back in the 1980s, which parents flocked to as an alternative for Jennifer, the hottest name in the 1970s.

So how can you tell what names are going to become trendy in the next few years? One very helpful tool is the Social Security Baby Name Index, which lists the top 1000 names for boys and girls for every year dating back to 1992, and also offers information about the popularity of names in past decades. By tracking the popularity of names over the past few years, you can predict what names are "up and coming" and on their way to the Top 10 list. Here are a few baby girl names that have been rising in popularity sharply and seem destined to reach mega-trendy status soon.

Mia and Maya. These two similar names have gone from relatively obscure to the height of popularity in a short period of time. Mia was all the way down at #329 back in 1992, but it's been climbing steadily every year, and in 2006 it was #13. Similarly, Maya went from #369 in 1992,to #57 in 2006. Maya seems to be getting kind of a boost from Mia because parents think Maya is less popular and trendy-- and it is, for now.

Lily and Lillian. These old-fashioned names have been revived wholeheartedly. Lily was #471 back in 1992, and in 2006 it was #33. Lillian was #347 in 1992 and climbed to #38 in 2006. Spelled with one L, the variant "Lilian" is far less common-- although Liliana (with one L) also made a significant climb from #345 in 1992 to #150 in 2006.

Ava. Ava isn't exactly "up and coming," since it was at #5 in 2006. However, it's a great example of a name that came out of nowhere to top the charts. Back in 1992, it was all the way down at #833! Ava probably caught on because old-fashioned names are in style (like Emily, Olivia, and Abigail), and because it has a cadence similar to the trendy names Emma, Anna, and the newly popular Ella (see below).

Ella. The rise of Ella parallels that of Ava. It was buried down at #892 in 1992, but rose to #21 in 2006. It's likely that parents see this is a less trendy alternative to Emma, Emily, and Elizabeth. However, since parents can't seem to get enough of E-names these days, Ella seems like a likely contender for the top 10.

Zoe/Zoey. Perhaps the rise of popularity of this previously unusual name can be attributed to the cute little Sesame Street muppet, and maybe received a boost from Jamie Lynn Spears as well. Zoe rose from #282 in 1992 to #54 in 2006, and the variant Zoey climbed from #874 to #119.

Faith. Faith is creeping up there in the popularity list and may catch up with the popular Grace. Down at #3254 in 1992, Faith climbed to #63 in 2006.

Nevaeh. Nevaeh (which is "heaven" spelled backwards) didn't even hit the charts until 2001, when it debuted at #266. In 2006, it reached #43. It's kind of a mystery how this trend started, as it didn't originate with a popular culture character or celebrity or similar source of name trends.

Reagan. Here's an up-and-coming name that's not very popular-- yet. Reagan climbed from #949 in 1993 up to #155 in 2006.