The Data Is Out — This Is What Parents Named Their Babies In The Nightmare That Is 2020
It was not a good year for "Karen."
Today, BabyCenter dropped its annual list of the most popular names of the year. Yes, the list is out a little earlier than usual this year, but since 2020 seems like it has already been about 27 months long, we’ll accept it!
BabyCenter's list is based on the names of more than 500,000 babies born in 2020 to parents registered on the BabyCenter website.
So, what cool and interesting goings-on and trends did we see with baby names in 2020? Let’s take a look:
First, Sophia and Liam continued their reign as the most popular baby names.
Amazingly, this was Sophia’s 11th consecutive year as the top girls name. Liam landed at number one for a second consecutive year — last year, it toppled former number one fave Jackson (which now ranks third).
Other movers and shakers on the top 10 lists: Riley and Mateo.
Riley jumped all the way from ninth to third on the girls list (the biggest gain of any top 10 name), while the increasingly popular Mateo broke into the boys top 10 list for the first time ever.
Outside of the top 10, the names Kobe and Gianna both saw large increases in popularity.
This was surely inspired by the tragic deaths of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. Kobe climbed 379 spots to number 216, while Gianna went from 76 on the girls list in 2019 to number 24 this year.
2020's status as an election year likely played a role in a couple other names that saw a sizable increase in popularity: Kamala and Liberty.
Kamala — the first name of Kamala Harris, the Democrats' nominee for vice president — is up 100% year over year.
Meanwhile, Liberty, the name political commentator Meghan McCain of The View gave her baby daughter, rose 69 spots.
There were, unsurprisingly, a couple BIG losers on the list this year: Karen and Alexa.
Karen dropped 153 spots (honestly, I'm surprised it didn't fall further), while Alexa fell 121 spots. Most likely, people were trying to avoid the confusion of having their Amazon Alexa light up every time they say their baby's name.
Those were the trends and notable stories! Now here are the top 10 lists for 2020:
1. Liam (Ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive year)
2. Noah
3. Jackson
4. Aiden
5. Elijah
6. Grayson
7. Lucas
8. Oliver
9. Caden
10. Mateo (New to the top 10 this year)
1. Sophia (Ranked No. 1 for the 11th consecutive year)
2. Olivia
3. Riley
4. Emma
5. Ava
6. Isabella
7. Aria
8. Aaliyah
9. Amelia
10. Mia