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How Have Baby Boy Names Evolved Over the Years?
Each year, the Social Security Administration rounds up the top 1,000 baby boy names. While the series has certainly evolved over the years, more current trends seem somewhat persistent. Thanks to a shift in popularity, the name Liam appeared number one on the list five years in a row, from 2017 to 2021. Other popular baby boy names like Noah, Oliver, and Elijah followed close behind, though there were a few more modern hits on the list, such as Maverick and Kai. This indicates a notable change compared to baby name data collected from previous generations, where names like John, Robert, and James served as about as much variety as you could expect. That’s not to say to parents have completely abandoned more traditional names—they haven’t. Much like trends in fashion, the popularity of names follows a cyclical pattern. Popular options on the administration’s most recent list also include names like Theodore, Henry, and Benjamin.
466 Top Baby Boy Names
The perfect baby boy name is out there. In fact, it may very well be hidden in the list below. Read on to find the right fit for your newborn.
Unique Baby Boy Names
Gender Neutral Names
Traditional Names
Animal Names For Baby Boys
Scriptural Boy Names
Baby Boy Names Inspired by Food
Rockstar Names
Cool Baby Boy Names
Baby Boy Names Inspired by Nature
What’s in a Name, Really?
What’s in a name? A lot, as it turns out. These designations carry significant implications for where we stand from a historical, familial, and cultural perspective.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Naming a new baby also provides opportunities to tap into deep personal connections. Many parents use the occasion to honor those they hold dear. And if there are multiple people you want to incorporate into tradition—hey, you can always make room for a middle name. That doesn’t even cover the influence these titles have on the individuals they’re assigned to. Research into the power names has taken place for the better part of a century. Back in 1948, two Harvard professors kicked things off with a study of thirty-three hundred recent graduates, looking to determine whether their names had any major impact on their academic performance. According to the study, participants with more unusual names were more likely to have flunked out or to have exhibited signs of psychological neurosis than those with more traditional names. Of course, as time went on, stigmas surrounding unusual name picks seemed to diminish. We all remember Gwyneth Paltrow’s early-aughts decision to name her firstborn daughter “Apple.” And later, when Elon Musk and Grimes topped that with their decision to name their kid the nonlinguistic “X Æ A-12.” (That one was even too much for the bureaucracy—while weird names continue to fill up the census, the state of California still maintains they can only include the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language). Still, that hardly means these titles exist independently from their owners. More recent data suggests that names can influence anything from professional choices and martial partners to more niche behaviors like investment options and the ability to work well in a group setting. These decisions are largely driven by something called the implicit-egotism effect. The theory states that people unconsciously gravitate toward things they associate with themselves. If the hypothesis holds up, we can assume that when presented with a choice between a Rolex or a watch from Cartier, the author of this article would opt for the latter. Of course, there are other influences on how our names impact the way we move about the world. In 2004, economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan sent out 5,000 resumes in response to job opportunities listed in the classifieds in two major American cities. They found applications associated with “white-sounding” names, like Emily and Greg, received 50 percent more callbacks than those with a “Black-sounding” name, like Lakisha or Jamal. Similar findings have also been collected on an international level. While our names and their influence on how we’re treated will vary drastically based on where we are and the community we are surrounded by, what we know is this: Our names communicate important information about us, from our heritage and values to socioeconomic standing. How people respond to these signifiers may not be within our control, but it certainly helps shape who we become.
Wrapping Up
That’s it for our list of names for your baby boy. Be sure to check back with us soon for more ideas to share with the ones you love. You can also sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out!
