Naming Your Baby in 2022

Your precious bundle is on it's way. Your choice of doctor and labor service has been chosen. The doctor visits have been scheduled. Family and friends have been told. The shower gift list has been made and you might even know the gender of your sweet baby. Now, in the months ahead of waiting you've got time to think of a name. The most important part of your baby's whole life, the name it will carry, is in your hands.

You have probably started the process of setting a few naming guidelines so as to narrow your choices to a few hundred instead of a few million. By now you have looked at the most common ways of naming a baby: Traditional, Lineage/Genealogy, Combination of names and Trending. Traditional names can be made up of common names whether biblical or cultural. Lineage/Genealogy names are those that are used to honor a member in the family (whether recent or many generations back). Combination names are sometimes the most interesting since their pronunciation is usually up to you. These can be the hardest ones for the baby to grow up with if the pronunciation is unusual or doesn't follow the normal phonetically rules. Trending are those names that are found in Movies, Books and List like this one.

Also remember that there are naming laws that restrict the names that parents can legally give to their children, usually to protect the child from being given an offensive or embarrassing name. Many countries around the world have such laws, with most governing the meaning of the name, while some only govern the scripts in which it is written. Restrictions vary by state, and most are imposed for the sake of practicality. For example, several states limit the number of characters in a name, due to limitations in the software used for official record keeping. For similar reasons, some states ban the use of numerals or pictograms. A few states ban the use of obscenities. Conversely, a few states, such as Kentucky, have no naming laws whatsoever. Courts have interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment as generally supporting the traditional parental right to choose their children's names.

So, all that being stated, this year (2022) the 50 most popular or trending names are as follows:

GIRLS BOYS

1. Olivia Noah

2. Emma Liam

3. Amelia Oliver

4. Ava Elijah

5. Sophia Gold

6. Isabella Lucas

7. Luna Mateo

8. Mia Levi

9. Charlotte Asher

10. Evelyn Ethan

11. Harper Luca

12. Ella James

13. Aurora Leo

14. Scarlett Grayson

15. Gianna Aiden

16. Nova Ezra

17. Aria Benjamin

18. Mila Henry

19. Sofia Sabastian

20. Ellie Wyatt

21. Violet Owen

22. Willow Mason

23. Layla Jackson

24. Lily Jack

25. Camila Alexander

26. Hazel Daniel

27. Avery Hudson

28. Chloe Kia

29. Penelope Gabriel

30. Eliana Muhammad

31. Elena Carter

32. Isla William

33. Eleanor Maverick

34. Abigail Logan

35. Elizabeth Michael

36. Nora Samuel

37. Riley Ezekiel

38. Ivy Jayden

39. Emily Luke

40. Grace Josiah

41. Paisley Lincoln

42. Zoey David

43. Stella Theo

44. Emilia Elias

45. Everly Julian

46. Maya Jacob

47. Leilani Theodore

48. Naomi Waylon

49. Lucy Matthew

50. Athena Jaxon

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” William Shakespeare uses this line in his play Romeo and Juliet to convey that the naming of things is irrelevant. But are they? A baby's name will be with it for all it's life and that child will be known by it's name. Take your time and good luck. Try out the name. Write it down, sound it out and think about the school yard bullies as you also think about the statement your child will be making every time they say their name.