When You Combine Alternate Spellings, These Are The *Real* Top Baby Names

When people are choosing a baby name, one thing many are concerned about is choosing one that isn’t trendy or too popular. Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news: the most popular names of today are nowhere near as popular as baby names in the 90s and earlier. The bad news: simply looking at lists might not give you a clear picture of the most popular names in the country.

Recently, baby naming site Nameberry analyzed the most popular names in the country specifically looking to see how combining alternate spellings would affect a particular name’s ranking — they called this “Playground Analysis,” aka “What are the names you’re hearing on the playground” — and it really does change the game in some cases!

Every year, the United States Social Security Administration gathers the names of all babies born the year before and puts together a ranked list of the 1,000 most common. Since 2017 and 2019 respectively, Liam and Olivia have topped the charts.

Back to that good news really quick: you really don’t have to worry anymore about your baby being one of five Olivias or Liams in their class. The top names in 1980 — Jennifer and Michael — were given to 3% and nearly 4% of babies that year. By 1990, the top names (Jessica and Michael) had dropped to 2% and 3%. Now, the reigning champs (Olivia and Liam) are at .8% to 1%.

But back to the bad news: when creating their rankings, the SSA doesn’t take alternate spellings into account. So both “Sophia” and “Sofia” are ranked in the Top 10 baby names as two separate entries (6 and 10 respectively). But taken together, So(ph)(f)ia is the top girls name in the country.

So what other alternate spellings rejigger the current ranks?

Here’s what the SSA has listed now for the Top 20 boys and girls...

1. Liam/Oliva
2. Noah/Emma
3. Oliver/Amelia
4. Theodore/Charlotte
5. James/Mia
6. Henry/Sophia
7. Mateo/Isabella
8. Elijah/Evelyn
9. Lucas/Ava
10. William/Sofia
11. Benjamin/Camila
12. Levi/Harper
13. Ezra/Luna
14. Sebastian/Eleanor
15. Jack/Violet
16. Daniel/Aurora
17. Samuel/Elizabeth
18. Michael/Eliana
19. Ethan/Hazel
20. Asher/Chloe

But when you take homophones into account, as Nameberry did, you get a clearer picture of what’s most popular. Here’s what the site realized is the actual top names with all their variations.

Top Girl Names

1. Sophia (Sofia; Sofiya)

2. Amelia (Emilia; Emelia; Amilia)

3. Olivia (Alivia; Alyvia)

4. Emma (Ema)

5. Charlotte (Charlette)

6. Mia (Miah; Miya; Miyah)

7. Isabella (Izabella; Isabela)

8. Adeline (Adalynn; Adaline; Adalyn; Adelyn; Adelynn; Addilyn; Addilynn; Adilene; Addalyn; Addelyn; Adilynn; Addalynn; Adelyne; Adalyne; Adilyn... whew!)

9. Eliana ( Elliana; Elianna; Ellianna; Eliyanah; Elyana; *deep inhale*; Elyanna; Eliyana; Ellyana; Ellieana; Eleana)

10. Evelyn (Evelynn; Evalyn; Evalynn; Evelin)

11. Isla (Ayla; Iyla; Ila; Aila; Aylah; Eila; Aiyla; Iylah; Aayla; Ilah)

12. Aria (Arya; Ariyah; Ariya; Ariah; Aarya; Aryah)

13. Camila (Kamila; Camilla; Kamilla; Kamilah)

14. Zoe (Zoey; Zoie)

15. Madelyn (Madeline; Madilyn; Madeleine; Madelynn; Madilynn; Madalyn; Madalynn; Madelyne; Madelin)

16. Elena (Alaina; Elaina; Alayna; Alena; Aleyna; Elayna; Ellena)

17. Ava (Avah; Ayva; Ayvah)

18. Riley (Rylee; Ryleigh; Rylie; Rhylee; Reilly)

19. Layla (Leila; Laila; Leyla; Laylah; Lailah; Leilah)

20. Chloe (Khloe; Cloe)

There were fewer changes among boys, but still some significant jumps in status once you get into it. Some of the biggest movers and shakers were Jackson, Aiden, Elliott, Kayden, Zayn, and Jace.

Playground Analysis Top 100 Boy Names

1. Liam (Lyam)

2. Noah (Noa)

3. Oliver (no other spellings ranked; apparently we’ve found a name so classic it cannot be altered)

4. Mateo (Matteo; Matheo)

5. Jackson (Jaxon; Jaxson; Jaxxon; Jaxen; Jaxyn)

6. Luca (Luka; Lucca; Lukah)

7. Lucas (Lukas)

8. Theodore (Theodor)

9. Elijah (Alijah)

10. James (Another un-alterable name!)

11. Henry (Henri)

12. Aiden (don’t call it a comeback —Ayden/Aidan/Adan/Eiden/Aden/Aydin/Eyden/Aydan/Eydan/ Eidan/Adin/Aidyn/Aedan never left, even though the most popular version of this name barely makes the Top 50, together they’re just past the Top 10)

13. William (William, please join Oliver and James...)

14. Miles (Myles)

15. Ethan (Eithan; Eythan)

16. Benjamin

17. Levi (Levy)

18. Grayson (Greyson; Graysen; Greysen; Gracen)

19. Kayden (The most popular version of this name comes in at 125, so this is another example of a name being “stronger together.” Alternate spellings include Kaiden; Caden; Kaden; Cayden; Caiden; Kaidyn; Kaeden; Kadyn)

20. Ezra (Ezrah)

Nameberry actually goes through the Top 100 using this metric and it really is interesting to see which names are far more popular than the cursory data would indicate.

But if you’re someone who’s hellbent on making sure their child doesn’t have a wildly popular name, fear not. Even when you take all spellings into account for a given name, the most popular are still only given to about 1 in 100 children.