As it’s customary in the U.S. for parents to apply for Social Security Numbers for their newborn children, the Social Security Administration has a pretty detailed picture of which baby names are trending at any given time.
Their analysts release an annual rundown of the most popular ones from the previous year, and they recently dropped their 2022 list. Olivia defended its title as the top girls’ name for the fourth year running; and Liam has held first place on the boys’ side since 2017. In fact, the top three on both sides match last year’s list: Emma and Noah in second place, Charlotte and Oliver in third.
Other names have shifted positions—slightly. Ava fell from fifth to seventh place, for example, and James snuck past Elijah to take fourth place. Overall, though, the lists have hardly changed at all: There aren’t any new names on the boys’ list, and the only newcomer on the girls’ list is Luna in 10th place. (Luna swapped spots with Harper, which is 2022’s number 11).
More interesting, perhaps, are 2022’s fastest-rising monikers. The top two on the boys’ side were seemingly inspired by the TV series Yellowstone: Dutton, the surname of the dynastic rancher family at the center of the series, is in first place; and Kayce, the youngest Dutton son, is the runner-up. For girl names, Wrenlee and Neriah took the top two spots.
You can see the top 10 boys’ and top 10 girls’ names below. The SSA’s baby name database is open to everyone, so feel free to search your name to find out how its popularity has changed since 1900.
This article was originally published on www.mentalfloss.com as The 20 Most Popular Baby Names of 2022, According to the Social Security Administration.
