Every summer, Nameberry releases a list of the popular baby names for the first half of the year. The rankings are based on which names attracted the most page views of nearly 40 million visits to Nameberry’s web site. The list gauges the baby names that are winning the most attention from parents-to-be right now, and may predict which names will be used most for babies in the future.
There’s a new girls’ name at the head of the baby names popularity list for the first half of 2016, with Olivia claiming Nameberry’s official number one spot. Ezra holds his place at the top of the boys’ popular names list, a position the Biblical name also claimed in 2015.
Olivia replaces Charlotte, the girls’ top name for 2015, which slips to number three. Amelia, Ava, and Isla round out the girls’ top 5. Five new girls’ names ascend to the top 10 in 2016: Arabella, Aurora, Adeline, Isabella, and Mia.
The top 5 boys’ names retain the order they claimed for 2015: Ezra, Asher, Atticus, Declan, and Oliver. Only two names are new to the boys’ top 10 in 2016: Levi and Wyatt.
Other hot baby names for boys — all up more than 40 places — are John, Tobias, Daniel, Xavier, and Maxwell. For girls, the “hottest” name so far this year is Sadie, which jumped up 48 places. Other girls’ names up more than 30 places in 2016 are Elise, Astrid, Isabella, and Thea.
Newcomers to the 2016 top 100 include several unusual names we may hear lots more of in coming years. For girls, these are Anouk, Cecilia, Freya, and Ophelia. For boys, they are Alistair, Hugo, and Lucian.
Without further ado, here are Nameberry’s 100 most popular names for girls and boys for the first half of 2016.
Girls
1. OLIVIA
2. AMELIA
3. CHARLOTTE
4. AVA
5. ISLA
6. ARABELLA
7. AURORA
8. ADELINE
9. ISABELLA
10. MIA
11. ELEANOR
12. ARIA
13. PENELOPE
14. CORA
15. ROSE
16. VIOLET
17. HAZEL
18. THEA
19. CLAIRE
20. EMMA
21. ALICE
22. LUCY
23. LUNA
24. NORA
25. MILA
26. ELIZABETH
27. SCARLETT
28. ASTRID
29. IMOGEN
30. ELLA
31. GENEVIEVE
32. MAEVE
33. AUDREY
34. GRACE
35. SADIE
36. EVANGELINE
37. CHLOE
38. ESME
39. EMILY
40. IVY
41. ELOISE
42. OPHELIA
43. CAROLINE
44. AURELIA
45. MAYA
46. STELLA
47. ADELAIDE
48. KHALEESI
49. LILA
50. NOVA
51. ELISE
52. EVELYN
53. JANE
54. LYDIA
55. MAISIE
56. ELLIE
57. BEATRICE
58. IRIS
59. ELODIE
60. CLARA
61. SOPHIA
62. ANNA
63. EMILIA
64. ELIZA
65. HARLOW
66. AMARA
67. JULIA
68. MAE
69. ISABEL
70. JOSEPHINE
71. JADE
72. POPPY
73. ABIGAIL
74. SIENNA
75. HANNAH
76. MATILDA
77. ELSIE
78. ZARA
79. SERAPHINA
80. WILLOW
81. ZOE
82. MADELINE
83. EVIE
84. ADA
85. WILLA
86. JULIET
87. PHOEBE
88. MOLLY
89. MARGARET
90. LILY
91. ANOUK
92. MABEL
93. FREYA
94. ELIANA
95. LEAH
96. ANNABELLE
97. DAISY
98. EVA
99. CECILIA
100. NAOMI
Boys
1. EZRA
2. ASHER
3. ATTICUS
4. DECLAN
5. OLIVER
6. MILO
7. SILAS
8. LEVI
9. WYATT
10. HENRY
11. JACK
12. JASPER
13. LEO
14. ELIJAH
15. ETHAN
16. THEODORE
17. SEBASTIAN
18. CALEB
19. LIAM
20. OSCAR
21. ELI
22. BENJAMIN
23. BODHI
24. AUSTIN
25. FELIX
26. MILES
27. ALEXANDER
28. JACOB
29. ZACHARY
30. WILLIAM
31. LUKE
32. AXEL
33. THOMAS
34. ANDREW
35. XAVIER
36. ISAAC
37. JULIAN
38. JAMES
39. MATTHEW
40. LUCAS
41. ARYAN
42. FINN
43. JOHN
44. SAMUEL
45. NATHANIEL
46. SOREN
47. ROMAN
48. DANIEL
49. JOSIAH
50. TOBIAS
51. MAXWELL
52. CALLUM
53. GABRIEL
54. LINCOLN
55. NOLAN
56. ISAIAH
57. RONAN
58. CONNOR
59. HARRISON
60. BECKETT
61. CHARLES
62. OWEN
63. GRAYSON
64. LACHLAN
65. GIDEON
66. JONAH
67. ARTHUR
68. CHRISTIAN
69. RYKER
70. ARCHER
71. LUCIAN
72. JUDE
73. WESLEY
74. JACKSON
75. HARRY
76. KAI
77. JOSEPH
78. GRAHAM
79. NATHAN
80. SIMON
81. HUGO
82. ABEL
83. MADDOX
84. GRIFFIN
85. LANDON
86. DAVID
87. THEO
88. LEWIS
89. RYDER
90. ZANE
91. ALISTAIR
92. DASHIELL
93. KNOX
94. BENNETT
95. NICHOLAS
96. RHETT
97. VINCENT
98. GEORGE
99. EDWARD
100. LOUIS
Research by Esmeralda Rocha.