2024's most popular baby names for Mother's Day Monday

I'm not done with Mother's Day. It's time for this year's edition of Social Security's top ten U.S. baby names of 2023 for Mother's Day weekend, beginning with the Social Security Administration's (SSA) blog post, Olivia and Liam Remain Most Popular Baby Names for 2024.

Olivia and Liam are once again America’s most popular baby names of the year. 2024 marks the sixth consecutive year that families chose to stick with both familiar names. Also, for the sixth consecutive year, Emma took the second slot for girls, and Noah for boys.

The girls’ name Luna has dropped from its spot among the Top 10, replaced by Sofia which enters at number 10 for the first time.

I found two videos from The Everymom that list last year's most popular baby names down to 20th place. The good news is that they add the meanings of the names, how long they've been in the top twenty (or ten), and how many places they've moved. The bad news is that they mistakenly claim that they are this year's most popular names. Oops. The SSA won't know that until next May.

First, The 20 Most Popular Baby Girl Names of 2025.

It’s always an exciting time of year when the Social Security Administration (SSA) https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/ releases its list of the 1,000 most popular baby girl names of the year. Expectant parents might use the SSA list for baby name inspiration or parents might look to see where their kid’s name falls on this year’s list. Others might simply be curious: Will Olivia will hold onto her spot as the top baby girl name for another year? Will Luna keep inching her way up the list? Or will another celestial-inspired name climb the charts? Keep watching to find out.

Using data from each year’s social security card applications, the United States federal agency ranks the most popular names given to both baby girls and baby boys from the previous year. But if you’re thinking that you don’t want to commit your kid to a childhood of name-sharing with 20 others in her school, don’t worry. While the list brims with U.S. parents’ top picks, each name only accounts for 1-2% of all baby names given that year.

Next, The 20 Most Popular Baby Boy Names of 2025.

I remember looking for the perfect baby boy name when I was pregnant and feeling totally lost. We poured through countless baby name books, took suggestions from family and friends, and still came up empty. If you’re looking for a name, the Social Security Administration (SSA)’s list of most popular boy names is a great place to start.

When choosing a baby name, checking the Social Security Administration (SSA) website may not be your first thought. But each year, this organization pulls together the list of the most popular boy and girl names given to the prior year’s crop of newborns. The SSA baby name list https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/ is usually released right before Mother’s Day using compiled data from the previous year’s United States social security applications.

If the popularity of a name gives you pause, consider that even the top baby names account for only a small percentage of each year’s newborns. For example, Liam, the top boy baby name for the eighth year in a row, only accounted for 1.2 percent of all babies born last year.

So while your child won’t have the world’s most unique baby name, they won’t get lost in a sea of kids with the same name either. Climbing up the charts for the year are Truce, Colsen, Bryer, Halo, and Azaiah.

Whether you’re at the start of your naming journey, or in the throes of decision fatigue, take a moment to read through the boy names parents around the U.S. used the most in last year.

Mateo, which I've been tracking for a while, slipped from sixth to seventh. Xiomara, which I've also been following, fell from 402 to 432 after rising for seven years. Both of those names came from Jane the Virgin, and I guess its popularity is finally waning. At least the name Jane itself continued its climb from 281 last year to 269.

The Everymom listed the top five boy's names that increased the most in popularity, but not the girl's names. SSA's blog post at least mentioned the girl's name that topped that chart.

Each year, the list also reveals the names that increased the most in popularity. Among those rising in popularity for girls, Ailany, which means ‘chief’, topped the list. The boys’ name Truce, which means ‘peace’, rose an incredible 11,118 spots from last year’s position, cracking the top 1,000 at number 991 overall.

Here are the top ten boy's and girl's names that increased in popularity between 2023 and 2024.


Not only did Ailany come in first on this list, variants Aylani and Ailani came in second and tenth. All of them look Hawaiian or Polynesian, so I wondered if the popularity of Moana contributed to this. I could find no one by any of those names in the two films, so maybe parents searched for Hawaiian girl's names and retrieved them. If so, the effect is indirect.

I close with a quote from the SSA press release.

“As Mother’s Day nears, we remember the incredible impact that mothers have on our lives,” said Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano. “Growing up with a working mom, I witnessed firsthand the dedication, resilience, and balance it takes to juggle both career and family. Happy Mother’s Day to all the incredible mothers in our lives who inspire us and set an example for future generations.”

That's a sweet quote, but it reminds me that I sarcastically asked "What shall we give up for Lent, Social Security?" That hasn't happened, yet. May Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano not be the one that makes that happen for real.

I plan on revisiting baby names for Father's Day, so stay tuned.