Just like our clothes, our hair, and everything else, baby names go in and out of style (and even follow trends). However, what goes up must eventually come down, and that includes what we’re naming our kids. We know what’s predicted to be popular in the future, but how about the names on the other end of the spectrum — the ones that are poised to dwindle to levels of near-extinction?
Believe it or not, there’s a ton of baby name data tracking going on out there. Many countries keep track of what their newest citizens are being called (here in the U.S., the Social Security Administration is responsible for tracking such data – the newest list will be released this coming May, so stay tuned!). But there are also websites dedicated to baby naming who are able to use their own proprietary data to predict which names are rising and falling in popularity. Recently, BabyCenter released its own report on the baby names which have fallen the fastest in popularity over the past year (see the full list here), and we compared that data to the most recent data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to see if they yielded similar results – and lo and behold, there were a few surprises!
To note: While BabyCenter’s data is collected by submissions from parents in real time, the SSA’s data is collected on a yearly basis; until the newest report on 2024 baby names drops in May 2025, the most recent available SSA baby name data is from 2023. Still, it’s an interesting comparison.
Below are the 20 boy names which have decreased the most in popularity according to BabyCenter, and the findings for the same names from the SSA — plus, the names which decreased the most during a one-year period in the United States overall.
Jamal (-443 per BabyCenter, +48 per SSA from 2020-2021): Jamal first entered the SSA’s top 1000 most popular baby names in 1968, reaching its popularity peak in 1993, when it came in at #233. But by 2020, it was barely hanging on — and despite a little bump from 2020-21, it dropped off the charts entirely after that.
Esteban (-283 per BabyCenter, -10 per SSA)
Cannon (-268 per BabyCenter, -37 per SSA): Interestingly, though Cannon-with-a-C only dropped 37 spots on the SSA charts, Kannon-with-a-K dropped a whopping 154 spots.
Emery (-241 per BabyCenter, -23 per SSA): Though both saw a decline, the alternate spelling, Emory, only dropped 17 spots on the SSA chart.
Taylor (-199 per BabyCenter, -26 per SSA): Call it the Taylor Swift effect — the name is now more popular for girls than it is for boys. Taylor dropped 26 spots on the SSA charts for boys, while it dropped 44 spots on the girl charts; but while Taylor for boys is currently at #591, Taylor for girls stands at #261.
Kareem (-193 per BabyCenter, +46 per SSA): As an outlier from the BabyCenter data, Kareem actually became more popular according to the SSA.
Idris (-187 per BabyCenter, -22 per SSA)
Camilo (-185 per BabyCenter, -31 per SSA)
Matthias (-179 per BabyCenter, -19 per SSA): According to the SSA data, the alternate spelling, Mathias, fell 25 spots — but another similar alternative, Matias, rose 32 spots.
Danny (-176 per BabyCenter, +12 per SSA): Another outlier, Danny actually rose 12 spots on the SSA’s popularity charts. But its root name, Daniel, dropped 3 spots.
Aziz (-170 per BabyCenter, not in the top 1000 per SSA): Though Aziz doesn’t fall into the top 1000 most popular boy names on the SSA charts, we can confirm that 70 boys were given that name in the U.S. in 2023, compared to 45 in 2020.
Louie (-170 per BabyCenter, +104 per SSA): It may have declined at BabyCenter, but Louie actually rose substantially in popularity per the SSA. Similarly, Louis also jumped up 8 spots.
Andy (-167 per BabyCenter, -51 per SSA)
Billy (-167 per BabyCenter, not in the top 1000 per SSA): Long lingering near the bottom of the SSA charts, Billy dropped off completely per SSA after being at #999 in 2020. For girls, though, the name Billie is rising again — 86 spots, to be exact. (Thanks, Billie Eilish!)
Phillip (-167 per BabyCenter, -49 per SSA): Phillip-with-two-Ls dropped fairly substantially in both places … but Philip-with-one-L only had a decline of 5, per SSA data.
Albert (-166 per BabyCenter, +22 per SSA): Vintage names for boys are still very much in style, and though Albert saw a decline at BabyCenter, it actually experienced a 22-point uptick at the SSA.
Jaden (-162 per BabyCenter, -33 per SSA): Jaden and its variants are all falling; alternate spellings Jaiden and Jayden fell 49 spots and 3 spots, respectively, per the SSA.
Bridger (-152 per BabyCenter, -12 per SSA)
Cesar (-147 per BabyCenter, -22 per SSA)
Edward (-145 per BabyCenter, +3 per SSA): Like Albert, the classic Edward experienced a fall in BabyCenter’s data, but a rise in the SSA’s.
As mentioned previously, the Social Security Administration data from the year 2024 won’t be released for another couple of months. But it’s interesting to note that the fastest-falling boy names from the most recent data are completely different than the ones noted on the BabyCenter site. Below, the top 10 boy names with the biggest drops in popularity per the SSA (you can see the entire list, plus the list of girl names, here).
Dior (-384)
Maxton (-283)
Davian (-206)
Heath (-196)
Braden (-186)
Niklaus (-185)
Bryant (-178)
Dion (-168)
Kase (165)
Lux (-164)
Though the data is fascinating to look at, there’s one very important thing to remember: at the end of the day, popularity doesn’t truly matter. If a name speaks to you, use it — who cares if it’s on the decline? That’ll only make your little one’s name more rare!
From Kamai to Arys, here’s a list of gender-neutral baby names that are super rare.
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