Special Report

These Will Be the Most Popular Names in a Decade

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Choosing a name for your child is perhaps the first big decision you’ll make as a parent. No pressure at all.

The desire to meet family expectations and follow traditions has to be weighed against the appeal of a cool-sounding name that also has a profound meaning.

Parents-to-be adopt various tactics when choosing the perfect name. They ask family and friends for advice, consider whether potential nicknames sound funny, and read Roman mythology — just to name a few. The result can be an uncommon name shared by only a handful of people in a century or a once-popular name that is going extinct.

The girls’ names projected to be most popular in a decade are similar to the most popular names nowadays. Only three in the top 10 are not currently so well-known. This is not the case with boys’ names, however. Seven of the boy names expected to be in the top 10 in 2028 are not especially common today.

The projected ranking of baby names for boys and girls is based on data provided by Nameberry, a popular guide. It examined  Social Security data and names the site’s visitors, mostly expectant parents, are most interested in. It then created an algorithm to analyze each name’s past popularity trajectory and project its rank going forward. It also compared the number of views each name attracted at the start of 2019 with the same period last year, and identified those names with the biggest jump in views.

Click here to see the top 10 girls’ names of 2028
Click here to see the top 10 boys’ names of 2028

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Top 10 Girls’ Names of 2028

10. Sofia
> Popularity in 2018: No. 159

Sofia is a form of the name Sophia, which means wisdom or skill in Greek. The name has been popular in England since the 17th century. Other variants include Sofiya, Sohvi, and Sophie.

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9. Ava
> Popularity in 2018: No. 8

Ava is a form of the name Eve. Its origin is unclear but it may come from the Latin “avis,” meaning bird. It may also be a shorter version of the name Chava, which means life or living in Hebrew.

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8. Aria
> Popularity in 2018: No. 56

Aria means air in Italian. It is also a musical terms that means a solo in an opera. The Hebrew version of Aria is Ariel and it means lion of God. Other forms include Arya and Ariya.

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7. Mia
> Popularity in 2018: No. 45

Mia is Italian for my or mine. The name is also a Scandinavian short form of Maria. In Latin Mia means wished-for child.

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6. Evelyn
> Popularity in 2018: No. 22

Evelyn is more commonly known as an English last name, and it used to be considered a boy’s name. The name may have originated as a mixture of Eve, which means life or living in Hebrew, and Lynn, . It may also be the English version of Aveline, which is the French variant of the Germanic Avila.

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5. Olivia
> Popularity in 2018: No. 1

Olivia dates back to the early 17th century when it was used by William Shakespeare as the name of a character in his comedy “Twelfth Night.” It may be a form of the Latin word “oliva,” which means olive. The name became more popular in the 20th century.

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4. Emma
> Popularity in 2018: No. 46

Emma is the short form of Germanic names that start with “ermen,” which means whole or universal. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in the 11th century, and was revived again in the 18th century.

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3. Harper
> Popularity in 2018: No. 115

The name has English, Scottish, and Irish origins. It used to be the last name of a person who played the harp. The harp player was a major figure of a medieval baronial hall, with the office of harper sometimes being hereditary. The name is still very popular in Ireland as a last name.

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2. Amelia
> Popularity in 2018: No. 7

Amelia has a Latin origin, meaning striving or industrious. It’s a mix of the medieval names Emilia and Amalia.

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1. Charlotte
> Popularity in 20178 No. 5

Charlotte is the feminine version of Charles, which means a free man. The name has a French origin, even though it is very common in England.

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Top 10 Boys’ Names 2028

10. Oliver
> Popularity in 2018: No. 12

Oliver comes from Olivier, which is a Norman French version of the Germanic name Alfher or Aleifr. The spelling was changed because of its association with the Latin “oliva,” which means olive tree. Oliver was a popular medieval name in England but it almost disappeared in the 17th century. It was revived again in 19th century, perhaps after the popular Charles Dickens’ character Oliver Twist.

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9. Jaxon
> Popularity in 2018: No. 432

Jaxon is a modern version of the name Jackson, which means son of Jack. It can also be spelled Jaxson or Jax for short.

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8. Theodore
> Popularity in 2018: No. 6

Theodore originates from Theodorus, a Latin name with Greek origins. It is made up of the elements “theos,” which means god, and “doron,” which means a gift. So Theodore means God’s gift. It can also be spelled Theodor, and Theo or Teddy for short.

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7. Henry
> Popularity in 2018: No. 9

Henry is derived from the Germanic name Heimirich, meaning home ruler. It’s a mix of “heim,” which means home, and “ric,” which means power or rule. It often used to be spelled Heinrich, which was popular among royalty. The name was introduced in England by the Normans in the 11th century.

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6. Lucas
> Popularity in 2018: No. 79

Lucas is another version of the name Luke or Lucius, which means light-living or illumination. The name may also have originated from the Ecclesiastic Greek Loukas, which is a shorter version of Loukanos, meaning man from Lucania.

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5. Lincoln
> Popularity in 2018: No. 182

Lincoln was a last name that came from the city, Lincoln, in northeastern England. There are records of it being written in Latin as early as the 7th century as “Lindum Colonia,” which is likely a combination of the Welsh word “llyn,” which means lake or pool and the Latin word “colonia,” which means colony.

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4. Noah
> Popularity in 2018: No. 73

Noah is derived from the Hebrew name Noach, which stands for rest and comfort. Noah was popularized by the Puritans after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries.

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3. Maverick
> Popularity in 2018: No. 89

Maverick means independent. It came to mean independently minded in the mid-1800s after Samuel Maverick, who was a politician and land tycoon who refused to brand his cattle.

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2. Mateo
> Popularity in 2018: No. 137

Mateo comes from the Latin name Matthaeus and the Greek names Matthaios and Matthias, which are shortened version of Mattathias. The name’s origin in Hebrew — Matityah — comes from “mattithyah,” which means a gift of God.

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1. Liam
> Popularity in 2018: No. 27

Liam means a strong-willed warrior and protector. The name is a contraction of the Irish name Uilliam, which is derived from the Frankish name Willahelm, which means helmet of will. Liam can also be a shorter form of William.

 

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