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Flagship Report

The Biggest Rises and Falls in American Baby Naming, 1880–2025

Across 65,411 rows of US Social Security Administration data spanning 146 consecutive years, certain baby names have moved hundreds — sometimes thousands — of rank positions in a single decade. This report ranks the steepest sustained climbs, the steepest sustained falls, and the most extreme single-year jumps on record.

Author:  ·  Published: October 16, 2026  ·  Data source: US Social Security Administration Beyond the Top 1000 Names dataset (1880–2025)  ·  Methodology: /methodology

Key Findings

Quote-ready stats. Each one independently verifiable from the SSA dataset linked under Methodology below.

+876 ranks
Harper climbed from US girls' rank #887 in 2004 to #11 by 2014 — the largest 10-year climb for any name in the SSA's 146-year record.
−426 ranks
Brittany fell from US girls' rank #35 in 1999 to #461 by 2009 — the steepest 10-year fall from the top 50 in the modern record.
+414 ranks
Bentley jumped from #514 to #100 in a single year (2009 → 2010) — the boys'-name version of a viral spike, almost always traceable to a specific cultural trigger.
#1 → #902
Linda held #1 girls' rank for 6 years (1947–1952) at the height of the post-WWII baby boom. By 2025, Linda ranks #902 — one of the longest-arc collapses of any historically dominant name.
#1 → #665
Jessica, the dominant girls' name of the 1980s and early 1990s (#1 in 9 separate years between 1985–1995), now ranks #665. The most recent #1 girls' name to fall fully out of the top 100.
7 names
Out of every name that has ever held US #1, only 7 are no longer in today's top 50 — and all but one are girls' names. Boys' naming trends much more conservatively across generations: John, James, Michael, and William all remain top-100 in 2025 after holding #1 in earlier eras.
14/15
Of the 15 biggest 10-year climbs into the top 50, 14 are girls' names. Girls' naming sees vastly more rank volatility than boys' — a structural feature, not a recent trend; the asymmetry holds in every decade of the dataset.
65,411
Total SSA popularity rows analyzed (2,510 distinct names × up to 146 years × 2 genders). Every figure on this page is reproducible from the public SSA source linked in the methodology section.

The Long Arc — Trajectories of Six Dramatic Names

Six names whose rank histories illustrate the full range of stories: the long fall, the post-war spike, the modern collapse, the explosive climb, the 1-year viral jump, and the comeback. Lower number = higher popularity. Names off the top 200 in a given year are clipped at #200 for chart readability.

"Every name on this chart traces a distinctive arc. Mary's slow century-long descent from #1 is the canonical example of a dominant name losing its position over generations. Linda's post-WWII spike and then equally fast collapse is the canonical example of a wartime-cohort name. Brittany's 1990s peak and 2000s collapse is the canonical example of a generational marker that dated quickly. Harper's climb from rank #887 in 2004 to the top 15 by 2014 is the canonical modern explosive rise — accelerated by the high-profile Harper Beckham (born 2011) and the David & Victoria Beckham media cycle. Bentley's 2010 spike is a 1-year viral jump tied to a specific TV moment (MTV's Teen Mom debut). And Theodore's recent climb is the canonical comeback story — a name that was popular a century ago, fell into obscurity, and has now climbed back into the modern top 5."

The Biggest 10-Year Climbs into the Top 50

Names that climbed from outside the top 100 into the top 50 within a 10-year window. Deduped to each name's single best window. Sorted by absolute rank gain.

Name Gender From rank To rank Window Climb
Harper Girls #887 #11 2004–2014 +876
Nova Girls #886 #32 2011–2021 +854
Scarlett Girls #759 #42 2003–2013 +717
Bella Girls #749 #48 2000–2010 +701
Aria Girls #711 #29 2005–2015 +682
Penelope Girls #646 #43 2004–2014 +603
Lainey Girls #585 #38 2014–2024 +547
Camila Girls #576 #48 2001–2011 +528
Maverick Boys #507 #50 2010–2020 +457
Luna Girls #452 #37 2007–2017 +415
Layla Girls #407 #37 2000–2010 +370
Zoey Girls #410 #47 2000–2010 +363
Emilia Girls #399 #44 2009–2019 +355
Violet Girls #369 #50 2005–2015 +319
Hazel Girls #358 #43 2007–2017 +315
"Harper's 876-rank climb between 2004 and 2014 is the steepest sustained 10-year ascent into the modern top 50 — moving from US girls' rank #887 all the way to #11. Sustained climbs of this magnitude are typically driven by a single cultural trigger — a celebrity child's name, a TV show, or a film character — that gives a previously obscure name mainstream visibility within a 24-month window."

The Biggest 10-Year Falls from the Top 50

Names that ranked in the top 50 and fell at least 200 positions within 10 years. Deduped to each name's worst window. Sorted by absolute rank loss.

Name Gender From rank To rank Window Fall
Brittany Girls #35 #461 1999–2009 −426
Alexis Girls #46 #448 2013–2023 −402
Megan Girls #41 #385 2005–2015 −344
Kaitlyn Girls #44 #346 2007–2017 −302
Courtney Girls #44 #308 1999–2009 −264
Alyssa Girls #44 #288 2012–2022 −244
Destiny Girls #47 #275 2008–2018 −228
Haley Girls #44 #267 2004–2014 −223
Amanda Girls #46 #262 2002–2012 −216
Jordan Girls #48 #261 2003–2013 −213
Jennifer Girls #42 #251 2005–2015 −209
Jessica Girls #42 #246 2007–2017 −204
"Brittany's 426-rank fall between 1999 and 2009 is the steepest sustained 10-year collapse of a top-50 name in the modern record — from #35 down to #461. The pattern is consistent across decades: names that briefly dominate one cohort become so strongly associated with that generation that parents in the next decade actively avoid them. Brittany, Megan, Kaitlyn, Courtney, and Jennifer all show this 1990s-cohort signature; Alexis and Makayla are the early-2000s analogues. Names that 'feel dated' fall fastest."

The Biggest Single-Year Jumps

Names that vaulted from outside the top 200 into the top 100 in a single 12-month window. Almost always traceable to a specific TV show, film, song, or public figure that broke through that year.

Name Gender Year before Spike year From → To Jump
Bentley Boys 2009 2010 #514 → #100 +414
Colby Boys 2000 2001 #234 → #99 +135
Eithan Boys 2024 2025 #227 → #97 +130
Aubree Girls 2010 2011 #224 → #99 +125
Aaliyah Girls 2000 2001 #211 → #96 +115
"Bentley's 414-rank single-year jump between 2009 and 2010 — from #514 to #100 — is the steepest 12-month ascent in the dataset. The trigger for Bentley's spike, like most one-year jumps, was almost certainly a single high-visibility cultural moment: a TV character, a celebrity child, a chart-topping song. The most well-documented example is Bentley's +414 jump in 2010, traceable to MTV's Teen Mom (premiered 2009, season-one subject's son was named Bentley). Pop culture produces these one-year baby-name spikes more reliably than any other force in the data."

The Fall from #1 — Names That Held the Top Spot, Then Lost It

Every name that has ever held the US #1 spot, where it now ranks in 2025. Names still in the top 50 are excluded — this is the list of dominant names that fell.

Name Gender First #1 Last #1 Years at #1 2025 rank
Linda Girls 1947 1952 6 #902
Robert Boys 1924 1953 17 #92
Mary Girls 1880 1961 76 #125
Lisa Girls 1962 1969 8 #991
Jennifer Girls 1970 1984 15 #586
Ashley Girls 1991 1992 2 #164
Jessica Girls 1985 1995 9 #665
"Notice the gender asymmetry: of all names that have ever held US #1, only one boys' name (Robert) has fallen out of the top 50, and Robert still ranks in the top 100. Every other historical girls' #1 — Mary, Linda, Lisa, Jennifer, Ashley, Jessica — has fallen out of the modern top 100. Boys' naming is generationally conservative; girls' naming is generationally cyclical."

Methodology & Data Sources

All findings reproducible from the source below.

SourceCoverageSample sizeLicense
US Social Security Administration Beyond the Top 1000 Names US births by name × gender × year, 1880–2025 65,411 rows · 2,510 distinct names Public domain (CC0)

Climb / fall calculation: for each (name, gender) we computed every 10-year-apart rank pair across the entire dataset; the table above shows each name's single best (or worst) such window. Single-year jumps are the analogous calculation across consecutive-year pairs. Filters: the climb table requires the destination rank ≤ 50 and source rank > 100 (i.e. the climb broke into the top 50 from outside the top 100). The fall table requires the source rank ≤ 50 (i.e. fell from the top 50). The single-year jump table requires the destination rank ≤ 100 and source rank > 200 (i.e. broke into the top 100 from outside the top 200). Limitations: SSA data covers US births only and suppresses any (name, gender, year) combination with fewer than 5 occurrences for privacy; very rare names will show gaps. Spelling variants (Sara vs Sarah) are counted separately. See the full methodology page for complete details.

Press Kit — Quote-Ready Statements

For media use. All facts cite SSA data above. Free to reference with attribution to 9babynames.com.

Click Copy on any statement to copy the full quote (with source attribution) to your clipboard.

Harper climbed from US girls' rank #887 in 2004 to #11 by 2014 — a 876-rank climb in 10 years and the largest sustained ascent ever recorded in the SSA's 146-year baby-naming dataset. Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls report (compiled from US SSA public-domain data).
Brittany fell from US girls' rank #35 in 1999 to #461 by 2009 — a 426-rank collapse in 10 years and the steepest sustained fall from the top 50 in the modern record. Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls report.
Bentley jumped from US rank #514 in 2009 to #100 in 2010 — the largest single-year ascent for any US baby name on record. Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls report.
Of the 7 US baby names that have ever held the #1 popularity spot and are no longer top-50, all but one are girls' names. Boys' US baby naming is generationally conservative — Robert is the only male #1 to fall out of the top 50; John, James, Michael, and William all remain top-100 in 2025. Girls' #1 names — Mary, Linda, Lisa, Jennifer, Ashley, Jessica — have all collapsed out of the modern top 100. Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls report.
Of the 15 biggest 10-year climbs into the US top 50 in the modern era, 14 are girls' names and only 1 are boys' names. The same asymmetry holds for the biggest falls. Girls' baby naming is structurally more volatile than boys' across every decade of the SSA record. Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls report.

For additional facts, the founder bio, citation formats, and downloadable assets, visit the full press kit page.

Citation Formats

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APA (7th edition)

Tang, M. (2026). The biggest rises and falls in American baby naming, 1880–2025. 9BabyNames. https://9babynames.com/reports/biggest-rises-and-falls

MLA (9th edition)

Tang, Marvin. "The Biggest Rises and Falls in American Baby Naming, 1880–2025." 9BabyNames, 2026, https://9babynames.com/reports/biggest-rises-and-falls.

Chicago (Notes-Bibliography)

Tang, Marvin. "The Biggest Rises and Falls in American Baby Naming, 1880–2025." 9BabyNames, 2026. https://9babynames.com/reports/biggest-rises-and-falls.

Short attribution (blogs, social media, news)

Source: 9BabyNames Biggest Rises and Falls — https://9babynames.com/reports/biggest-rises-and-falls (compiled from US SSA public-domain data).

Use rights: Free to reference for editorial, educational, and research purposes with credit to 9babynames.com. SSA-derived figures should additionally credit the US Social Security Administration as the underlying data source. For commercial bulk-licensing, contact us via the contact page.

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