Baby Name Popularity Trend Predictor & Calculator

Popular now? Trending in the future? Use our calculator to find out!

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  By: Tali Ditye, Ph.D., Co-founder

  Updated: September 29, 2025

Mommyhood101 independently tests and curates baby gear to help you make informed decisions. If you buy products through links on our site, we may earn a commission.

Check how popular a baby name is now, how popular it has been, and predict whether it's trending up or down over the next few years!

Enter the baby name in the search box, and click Go. Give it about 10 seconds to crunch the numbers!

When you're done, check out our reviews of the best baby products of the year to find the perfect gear for your growing family!

Baby Name Popularity Calculators: How do They Work?

Our baby name calculator uses official data from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), which has tracked name popularity since 1880. Each year, the SSA compiles the number of babies given each name, separated by gender.

By combining this annual data into one large dataset, we can calculate overall popularity, rank names by year, and visualize trends across more than 140 years of history.

When you type a name into our calculator, we search the entire database, identify its typical gender, and plot its year-by-year rank.

This lets you quickly see whether a name is timeless, rising in popularity, or falling out of favor!

How We Calculate Trends

To make trend information easier to understand, we look at the past 10 years of data and fit a simple linear regression (a best-fit line).

The slope of that line tells us whether a name is trending upward, downward, or staying about the same.

We then classify the slope into categories, such as "basically flat," "slightly increasing," or "moderately decreasing." This allows you to see at a glance where the name is headed without needing to interpret raw statistics.

Of course, name popularity can change quickly due to cultural influences, celebrities, movies, or world events. Our forecasts are based on recent patterns, but they’re not guarantees!

Example of Name Trend

Take the name Olivia, which has surged in popularity in recent decades.

Our chart shows Olivia consistently rising, with the past 10 years continuing that upward trajectory.

Contrast that with a name like Bertha, which peaked over 100 years ago and has steadily declined.

Fun Facts About Baby Names

• Most popular name ever: Mary for girls and James for boys. These names dominated much of the 20th century.
• Names can resurge: Old-fashioned names like Hazel, Oliver, and Theodore have made strong comebacks in recent years.
• Cultural influence: Pop culture, television, and celebrity choices can send a name skyrocketing almost overnight!
• Regional variation: The SSA dataset covers the whole U.S., but popularity can vary a lot by state and region.

Why Do Baby Name Trends Change?

Names rise and fall in popularity for many reasons.

Some are tied to famous figures or fictional characters, others fall out of use as cultural fashions change.

Generational cycles also play a role: grandparents’ names sometimes come back into style two or three generations later.

Unlike eye or hair color, names aren’t genetic, but they follow fascinating cultural and social patterns that can be studied just as scientifically.

Scientific References

Lieberson, S. (2000). A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change. Yale University Press.

Twenge, J. M., Abebe, E. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Fitting in or standing out? Trends in American parents' choices for children's names, 1880–2007. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1(1), 19–25.

U.S. Social Security Administration. (2025). Baby Names Data.

Disclaimer on Baby Name Trends

Our baby name popularity calculator is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.

All calculations are based on publicly available SSA data, and while the rankings and trend lines are presumed accurate to that dataset, they should not be interpreted as precise forecasts of future naming behavior.

Popularity can change quickly due to cultural shifts, media, and personal preference. Always remember that the best name is the one that feels right for your family, regardless of trends!