Only a few weeks are left in 2019. Everyone is trying or planning to look back at how the year went for them, and how they can make 2020 better than 2019. Meanwhile, the parenting website BabyCenter has compiled a list of 2019’s most popular baby names in the United States. The names are worth checking out if you are planning to become a parent next year or the year after that.
Picking a name for the baby is not an easy decision for parents. The name will stay with the child for life. As a parent, you don’t want to pick something that would make your kid feel embarrassed of their name when they grow up.
According to BabyCenter, Sophia has remained the most popular name for girls for well over a decade. It’s not one of those names that go out of style in a few years. For boys, Jackson occupied the top spot for six consecutive years. But this year, it has been replaced by Liam. Arabic names such as Muhammad and Aaliyah have also been on the rise. The names that jumped the most in popularity are Isla, Eleanor, and Miles.
To compile the list, BabyCenter says it collected data from almost 600,000 parents who shared their baby’s name with the platform. It combined the names that sound the same but have different spellings such as Muhammad/Mohammad, and Sophia/Sofia.
The US Social Security Administration also ranks baby names by their popularity. But it treats each unique spelling as a separate name.
Most popular baby names for boys
For the first time, Muhammad has entered the top 10 this year. The Social Security data also shows that Muhammad has been rising in popularity over the years. As per the Social Security Administration, it rose from 620th place in 2000 to 345th spot in 2018. The agency doesn’t include spelling variations in its ranking.
The parenting website said in a statement that Muhammad is one of the world’s most popular names, and it’s rising up the rankings in the US for years. The non-Muslim families have a wide range of names to choose from. Muslim families prefer to stick to their traditions, often choosing to name their son after the Prophet.
Muhammad jumped from 14th place in 2018 to occupy the 10th spot this year. It first entered the top 100 most popular baby names in 2013. Multiple spelling variations of the name helped it make it to the top 10 this year.
Liam has replaced Jackson as the most popular name for boys. Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam. It’s also a shorter version of William. Jackson was originally a last name meaning “son of Jack,” but now it has become immensely popular as a first name in the US and many other Western countries.
- Liam
- Jackson
- Noah
- Aiden
- Grayson
- Caden
- Lucas
- Elijah
- Oliver
- Muhammad
Top names for girls
While Muhammad has made it to the top 10 for boys, there is also an Arabic name in the top 10 for girls. Aaliyah, which means ‘exalted’ in Arabic, occupies the 10th place this year. Sophia tops the list once again, followed by Olivia and Emma. The name Sophia has its origins in Greek. According to BabyCenter, it was used by the European royalty in the Middle Ages.
- Sophia
- Olivia
- Emma
- Ava
- Aria
- Isabella
- Amelia
- Mia
- Riley
- Aaliyah
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