This Baby Name Trend Has No Time For You Elizabeths
Forget Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Ezekiel. Eli, Ellie, and Zeke line up!
Baby-naming trends in 2023 have been all over the place. There has been a surge in pop-culture-inspired baby names and an explosion of baby names inspired by nature, as well as new word names like Luxury and Royal. As the year comes to a close, some baby-naming experts — like the good folks at BabyCenter — are looking back on the hottest baby-naming trends that defined a wonderfully wacky year. And there’s perhaps no trend more noteworthy (or succinct) than this: short baby names are in.
BabyCenter’s Hottest Baby Name Trends of 2023 analyzes the fastest rising and falling baby names of the year using data provided by BabyCenter parents, rather than Social Security data. This year's data is comprised of over 300,000 new baby name entries — and one big takeaway?
"Nicknames are the new full names," BabyCenter declares. In 2023, they say, several classic or popular boy and girl names were eclipsed by their popular nicknames.
For example, based on user-submitted data for 2023 births, the report highlights that the name Elizabeth, ranked 41, and Eleanor, ranked 31, have been officially overshadowed by the nickname Ellie, ranked 15. A similar trend was seen with Josephine, ranked 146, trailing behind Josie, which sits at 85.
Baby boy names saw the same phenomenon: Leonardo, ranked 141, is not as popular now as Leo, ranked 8, and Theo, ranked 20, is doing better than Theodore, ranked 38.
This trend follows data from the U.S. Social Security Administration. Over the past few years, nicknames such as Jack have overtaken popular long-form names like Jackson, and Mila has climbed past once-popular Amelia. We've seen this trend amplified this year in the world of celebrities, too. For example, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen named their daughter Esti, a nickname of Esther; Jennifer Lawrence named her son Cy, which is a nickname for Cyrus; and Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker named their son Rocky, which is historically a nickname for Rocco or Rockwell.
And it’s not just nicknames, but short names of any origin. "Three-letter names are also making waves with parents," notes the BabyCenter report, citing examples such as Teo, Koa, Tia, and Joy. Other names that follow the short and sweet formula include Mia, Emma, Ava, Ada, Kit, Sky, Zen, and Ida, as well as Liam, Noah, James, Henry, and Lucas — all names in the top 10 most popular baby names last year too.
Other trends highlighted in BabyCenter’s Hottest Baby Name Trends of 2023 include names inspired by the biggest movies of the year, so-called nepo babies, and star athletes, as well as some cool new endings to boys' names.
To see more 2023 trends, check out BabyCenter’s full report.
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