The Most Popular Baby Names of 2022

Meandering over here from another post today. I LOVE baby names! I hope to never be pregnant again in this lifetime after two difficult pregnancies/births, and four miscarriages. However, reading beautiful baby names makes me just itch to name another baby.
Our daughters are Luna Juliet and Daphne Jade.
Other names I love are: Cosette, Ophelia, Rose, Flora, Dahlia, Sebastian, Theodore, Vincent, and Watson.

I’m Argentinian so my choices differ from most here :) but my favorite names are currently: Beltrán for a boy & Allegra for a girl.

I was reading this post, scrolling through these comments and mentioning options out loud to my husband while I was pregnant with a girl earlier this year and then I glanced to the top of the page and said…what do you think of Joanna? Lo and behold, Joanna “Jojo” Avalon was born last week! We are so delighted :)

I have been scrolling through these comments for inspiration before the birth of our second baby coming in 3 weeks! We have no idea if it’s a boy or girl, and good golly the boy name discussion just got HEATED.
We don’t want something common. We don’t want him (if he’s a he) to be one of 3x Jacks in a class, and we don’t want a name that can obviously be shortened into a nickname – neither one of us has a name like that. I love Zeke or Anton – my partner has come up with obtuse and silly reasons they are not stand-alone names (rolling eyes over here).
It seems Owen and Sebastian (an epiphany in the last hour!) are our top two standing boy names, and we will just have to wait to see who this child will be – boy or girl.
Good luck to anyone naming a baby – it seems to be a worse decision than deciding on whether to have a child or not!

I turn 40 March 20 and I’ve always loved my name Eleanor. Glad to see it’s making a come back! Though when I was growing I never met anyone else w/ my name except for old ladies, which, given my personality, made me love my name even more. Hazel, Maeve, and Isla were all in our top running LOL, but we went with a family name, Aubrey, instead of, for my first daughter.

We got a negative reaction when we announced our son’s name – Zephyr. It IS a real name – Greek God of the west wind. We love it and call him Zeph or Zephie.

We have a Maeve who is 8, and I have to say I’m disappointed to see it listed as #1 on the list. She enjoys being the only Maeve in her school (in CA), even though some people have a hard time pronouncing it when they read it on paper. She frequently hears “Mauve.” We love that her name connects her to her Irish heritage.

My daughter’s name was inspired by a college biology professor. He was your classic liberal professor who encouraged my husband to become a biology professor. His last name was Calder and hence our daughter (we didn’t know if she was a boy or girl) Calder has a last name that means rocky water in welsh. My other daughter is named after a historic house in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina – Drayton Hall. Calder and Drayton Dowling. I also have a son named Pearson which is a family name on my husbands side.

Just had an Eloise in January. She has great grandmothers named Elizabeth and Louisa, and this felt like a softer and more unique combination of the two. I also loved the children’s book and the nickname possibilities- grandma calls her Ellie, I call her Lulu, and big sister/daddy call her Weezy :)

I’ve always loved names- have had a list of baby names since I had my first journal!- but now that it’s my turn to name my first I feel paralyzed! Girl names come easily, but alas, we will be welcoming a little boy this summer. So far Sutton and Griffin are top of the list, leaning towards Sutton. I welcome nickname ideas- I can’t think of any that don’t rhyme with an inappropriate word…!

When my mother’s oldest child died at 16 months old she was pregnant with my sister. By the time she was born my mother had lapsed into a deep depression and was almost afraid to touch her let alone name her. Her mother and sisters took over her care and my father drew her name from hat contributed by USN sailors. The most beautiful name in the world that brought my mama back to life: Anita Marie

I didn’t read enough of the comments to know if someone else already pointed this out, but baby naming practices have gotten significantly more diverse in the last ~20 years or so, so even naming a “top ten” name today does not carry the same weight (and therefore the same ubiquity) as a name in the top 100 in say, the 1980s or 1990s. Something worth thinking about if you are like me and are stressing that the name you love is “popular” right now.

We’ve got two little boys and I struggled SO MUCH with both of their names – so stressful! But I’m stoked with what we ended up choosing. My eldest is Lennox (Lenny) and youngest is Freddie. Pretty sure we’re done having babies now so I’m relieved to not have to make these decisions again but I still love looking at name lists.

Expecting a girl in a few months and planning to name her Alice – I hate to admit that I like it less since seeing it on a few “popular” lists. For our son, we chose Walter, because it’s uncommon but not at all unusual/unrecognizable and were hoping to do the same for our daughter. We don’t want anything to wacky but also don’t want our kids to have a bunch of classmates with their names.

I’m one of your older readers. I had a Gordon Taylor IV, a James Kilby and a Lisa Marchant for children. Our oldest unfortunately was killed by a drunk driver while in college, but his brother wanted to keep the tradition going–I now have a grandson named Gordon Taylor V.

Oh I needed this post and comments! Just found out our second will be a boy– we are thrilled but surprised! Our daughter is named Nora, and my husband has gotten all twinkly-eyed about the name Scott, after his cousin and some tender connections to his late dad. Nora and Scott? Little Scottie? It’s easy to say and spell, it’s simple and strong, just sorta straightforward. I love that it makes me think of cool 60s surfer dudes but I don’t know if will sound old or weird, like here’s my baby Scott, he’s 30 and an accountant.

Is Scott the way to go?

If had a girl, her name would be Annie Jane. Annie, because I loved that movie as a kid in the 80’s, and as an adult I love the optimism of the character. It’s something I hope and try to instill in my son (Wyatt). Jane is my grandmothers name.

I tried really hard to think about different stages in my children’s lives when picking their names. Baby name, school age name, high school/college, and something that looks good on a business card. A lot of names fit one of those categories, but not all. We ended up with Harold (who goes by Harry for now but could be Hal or Harold later) and Ellenore (who goes by Ellie, but could be Ellen, Nora, or Ellenore later).

Just had my first baby a year ago and naming her was the biggest headache. There is so much pressure to be unique and special meaningful, and omg IT’S SO OVERWHELMING! I started longing for the days when everyone was named like Sarah or Mary. Done deal. I even suggested we just name her after me–great name, solid name, call it a day. We eventually landed on something we both like but that is a black hole I wish to never fall down ever again.

I’m a college professor, and I was reminded of this post while making an end of the day to do list for tomorrow, including emailing several students. My current list says, “Alex H; Alex R; Alex G; Ethan W; Ethan F……” Made me laugh out loud. I’m sure in 20 years, my student lists are going to be “Soren H; Soren R; Theo P; Theo M. ….”

Guess you had the same taste as my mom! My name is Claire Louise!

I was due with my second boy in a September and I made my husband promise if he was born on the 3rd we could name him Keanu. Alas! He is Stanley. And it fits him perfectly. He can’t pronounce “l’s” yet so it’s Stanny for now. My older son is Arthur and that fits him, too.

Recently adopted three little brother kittens and named them Owen, Arlo and Tristan. My daughter, who is 34, is named Jordan Lindsay.

I read a very interesting book over 30 years ago, “The Name Game” by Christopher P. Andersen. It’s an old book, but discusses the importance of names and how certain names have certain negative connotations, like it or not, fair or unfair, such as: Bertha, Alfred, Agnes, Hazel, Fifi, Gertrude, or Herman.. For instance, if your daughter is named Fifi or Candy and is applying for a position at a law firm, they may not take her too seriously. Whereas more dynamic, energetic names, such as Michael, Jeremy, Tyler, are safer bets and increase the chances of success and popularity. I don’t know if this book is still in print, but it’s a worthy read, even if it doesn’t include more trendy boy/girl names from recent years.

Two daughters. Eldest is Eila (pronounced same as Isla – “eye-la”) middle name is Clare. Eila means island and Clare is the name of the island in Ireland that her Irish ancestors are from. Youngest is named Rue Monterey. Rue because I fell in love with the character from Hunger Games (I am a 41 year old woman reading YA novels…oye vey) and Monterey because it’s where my husband I got married. Also she is a bit of spit fire, so anyone who messes with her will “rue the day!”