A Look at the Top 50 Names of 2014

A very quick look. Not much changed. Names fell or rose only a little. Only 2 boy names entered the top 50. 56 more little Aarons were born in 2014 than in 2013, which resulted in pushing Aaron from 51 up to 50. Oliver joined the top 50 and is the biggest news for this portion of the SSA list. As for names that fell, none fell much. A few dropped 7 places, names such as Nathan and Ryan. After Oliver, which had been ranked 52 and jumped to 32, Sebastian gained the most ground in the top 50, going from 45 to 34.


The girls' names are a different story. Victoria didn't move many spots, but what she did do was enter the top 20, going from 25 to 19. That's 7,184 Victorias versus 7,955, a difference of nearly 800 more babies with the name.

Only 3 new names joined the top 50 girl names in 2014: Penelope, Nora, and Skylar.

Penelope - rose to 42 from 56 - (14 spots)
Nora - rose to 49 from 82 (33 spots!)
Skylar - rose to 48 from 73 (25 spots!)

Obviously, Nora is the biggest news in the top 50, on either the boys' or girls' side.

Other names to note:

Aria -   rose to 31 from 40 last year. That's 5,104 Arias in 2013 and 5,893 in 2014. 789 more Arias last year. I'm sure Aria will overtake Victoria in no time.

Scarlett rose just one place higher than Aria, to 30 and came farther, well, by a couple spots, she was ranked 42 in 2013. In real numbers, that's 5047 versus 5965. That's 918 more Scarletts in 2014 than in 2013. Another name I expect will overtake Victoria. Will she stay ahead of Aria?

Aria might just be part of an 'ari' trend (in which case, I wonder if Victoria didn't start it all with her 'oria' ending, with Aria and other similar names now being used as a less common alternative). Arianna only rose 4 spots in 2014, from 44 to 40. But Ariana entered the top 50, rising from 54 to 37, 17 spots. The most movement this high on the list. In real numbers, that's 4396 Arianas in 2013 and 5461 in 2014. More than 1,000 more Arianas. Ariannas and Arianas combined numbered 10,701 in 2014 and only 9,378 the year before. Over two years, that's 20,079 Arianas/Ariannas that were born in the U.S.

Some names fell a bit.  Aaliyah went from 37 to 45. But some names dropped out of the top 50 altogether. Alexis dropped to 64 from 46 (18 spots!)  and Nevaeh stuck with her, going from 47 to 65 (18 spots). Sarah stayed with us, by the skin of her teeth, going from 48 to 50.