The results for the most popular baby names of 2022 have been unveiled as the year comes to an end.
BabyCenter, the online ‘parenting partner’ and media company, published its report of the top 100 baby names chosen by parents this year.
The company compiled the answers from ‘about 416,000 babies’ this year, between 1 January to 1 November.
This year, parents took inspiration from a range of wild sources as they opted for ‘coastal grandmother’ monikers, Disney-inspired names, optimistic noun names.
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The names Mirabel and Bruno, which fans of Encanto will definitely recognise, are on the rise and even the name Zendaya, inspired by the former Disney Channel actress and Euphoria star, entered the top 500.
After the ‘coastal grandmother’ trend spread across TikTok, which describes a middle-aged, wealthy woman who lives near a beach, parents are opting to give their baby girls the names Rosemary, Mae, Hazel and Eloise.
But the top 10 names for girls in 2022 were:
- Olivia
- Emma
- Amelia
- Ava
- Sophia
- Isabella
- Luna
- Mia
- Charlotte
- Evelyn
Parents sure do love girls names ending in ‘a’ don’t they?
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The top five baby girls’ names remained the same from last year’s report, suggesting that once your little one starts nursery or school they’ll probably meet a girl with one of the top five names.
BabyCenter reported that Evelyn snatched a top 10 position by pushing Harper out, making it the only name to break into the coveted sub-group of names.
Isabella also ascended up from seven to six compared to 2021 while Charlotte dropped from the sixth position to the ninth position.
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The celestial name Luna took off and rocketed two spots from nine to seven.
Meanwhile, the top 10 boy names of 2022 were:
- Liam
- Noah
- Oliver
- Elijah
- Mateo
- Lucas
- Levi
- Asher
- James
- Leo
Liam remained on top after being bestowed the honour of being the most popular boy name in 2021. Noah also stayed in the runner-up position from last year.
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Oliver and Elijah remained in third and fourth place respectively.
However, there were some big changes further down the list.
Mateo entered the top 10 this year, leaping from 11 to five, while Lucas lost some of its popularity in 2022 as the name was pushed down into spot number six.
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Levi dropped from six to seven and Leo moved into number 10 – no, not Downing Street but you’d be forgiven for thinking we had a prime minister named Leo at some point this year.
River is now one of the most popular gender-neutral names, rising 31 places on both the girl and boy lists.
Other names that made huge strides in popularity this year were Athena, Iris and Freya.
Although this meant that some old favourites like Ellie, Riley, Emily, Bella, Savannah, Aubrey, Hannah and Madison dropped in popularity.
You can find the full list here.
Gregory Robinson