News & Trends

The Most Popular Baby Names of 2018 — And The Least

It's official: These are the boy and girl names parents loved the most for babies in 2018. Did you choose one?

Published on November 28, 2018

newborn baby on mom lap — Photo: Natalia Deriabina/Shutterstock

November 28, 2018

While thinking of names for your little one, chances are you'll take the most popular names into consideration—either because you're looking for inspiration or you're hoping to avoid any frequently-used moniker. Well, now the most up-to-date info on baby naming trends is here, thanks to BabyCenter's "Most popular baby names of 2018" report.

To create the list, the site uses data from more than 742,000 parents who shared their baby's name with BabyCenter in 2018. They also note that in order to cover all the ground, they include names that sound the same but have multiple spellings (like Sophia and Sofia, or Jackson and Jaxon).

The takeaway when it comes to both boy and girl names: The more things change, the more they stay the same. For baby girls born over the past twelve months, Sophia was the favorite once again, as it made the top of the list for the ninth consecutive year. And for little boys, Jackson—which has been the most popular baby name for boys for six years now—won yet again.

The site notes that Oliver and Layla gained ground, jumping into the top 10 and bumping Logan and Zoe down below that key marker. And the names that grew in popularity growing in popularity in 2018 are Everly (as in Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum's little girl), Isla (perhaps actress Isla Fisher has something to do with this?), Leo, and Carson.

The report also found that lifestyle/earth/"zen"-inspired names are on the rise, i.e. the baby name Peace is up 66% for little girls and the baby boy name Ocean is up 31%.

As for the least popular? Emerson (listed for girls but considered a unisex option) and Weston (for boys) hit the bottom of the list.

Here's the rundown on the top/bottom 10 baby girl names and top/bottom 10 baby boy names from BabyCenter: