9 Baby Name Trends To Look Out For In 2025
With just two months left of 2024, the experts at BabyCenter are looking ahead to what the new year will bring to the baby naming landscape.
A new report from the parenting resource identifies the trends set to influence name choices in 2025. Sports, celestial activity and a particular starting letter are among the growing sources of inspiration.
“Since we’ve been analyzing baby names and reporting on them for two decades now, we’ve seen a ton of trends come and go,” said Rebekah Wahlberg, a baby name trends specialist at BabyCenter. “The 2025 trend forecast tells us a couple things about the future of baby naming: One, parents are very willing to get playful with their daughters’ names. And two, names are less ubiquitous than ever before ― where there used to be three Sarahs, we now have an Olivia, an Emma, and a Luna. Traditional names are deconsolidating as parents choose from a wider variety of names.”
BabyCenter’s predictions are based on data from the more than 500,000 babies born in 2024 to parents who shared their names with the website and/or app this year.
“With this self-reported data, we’re able to look at names of children being registered in real time, and we look at the overall charts to see which names are climbing and falling in registrations and which ones are clearly indicative of trends influenced by events of the year,” Wahlberg said. “When four different sets of parents register the name Eclipse for their baby girls, we notice!”
Whether you’re hoping to keep up with baby name fads or avoid them, continue scrolling for nine trends to look out for in 2025.
The Paris Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics put all things French on the map ― including baby names. BabyCenter reported popularity surges for Francophile-friendly names like Raphael, Elodie, Remi, Louise, Arlette, Beaux, Jolie and Louis.
Pop Hits
Many female pop singers have seen meteoric rises this year with hits like “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Apple” by Charli XCX and “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish. In tandem came the rise of names like Apple, Sabrina, Chappell and Billie on BabyCenter’s popularity charts.
E-Names For Boys
The letter E is having a moment with parents of sons. The report showed big increases for names like Emrys, Emir, Enrique, Edgar, Eliseo and Eliel. Higher on the list, Elijah and Ezra are holding strong in the Top 10, and Easton and Everett have returned to the Top 100.
Women’s Basketball
The WNBA and women’s NCAA tournament drew record viewership this year, and the hype seems to be trickling into parents’ baby naming choices too. The first names of basketball players Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso and A’ja Wilson are on the rise in BabyCenter’s data.
Celestial Events
The solar eclipse is leaving its mark on baby naming with the increasing popularity of names like Sol and Eclipse. Look out for other popular celestial names like Luna, Aurora, Nova and Orion. (This trend exemplifies the opposite of what typically happens with natural disaster names, so expect Helene and Milton to drop in 2025.)
The Kendrick v. Drake Feud
The feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake heated up this year with the release of a slew of diss tracks, and there seems to be a clear winner in the baby naming world. While the name Kendrick has risen in popularity, Drake is plummeting down the list.
Names Ending In -Lyn and -Lee For Girls
We’re used to seeing names like Evelyn, Brooklyn and Madelyn, but that -lyn ending is popping up in less familiar appellations that are climbing the popularity charts. Avalynn, Lakelyn and Maelyn have all joined BabyCenter’s Top 1,000 list for the first time, along with modern takes on names with -lee endings like Adalee and Rosalee.
Super Bowl Winners
Super Bowl LVIII was the most-watched program in American television history, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that some of the winners’ names would get a popularity boost as a result. Just look at the rise of Travis (as in Kelce) and Isiah (as in Pacheco) following the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory. Meanwhile, San Francisco 49ers names like Brock (Purdy), Christian (McCaffrey) and Trent (Williams) are going in the opposite direction.
Main Character Energy
The BabyCenter experts have recognized a rise in recent on-screen main character names ― like Riley from “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2,” Ripley from “Ripley” and both Deborah and Vance from “Hacks.” Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto from “The Bear” may be responsible for a big increase for the name Carmen for boys as well.
