The Margin: ‘Elon’ and ‘Kanye’ plummet as popular baby names — but ‘coastal grandmother chic’ babies are booming

Year over year, the most popular names for girls and boys have remained more-or-less the same: “Olivia” is the top name for girls, and “Liam” the No. 1 pick for boys. 

But digging into the names that are spiking and dropping the most in popularity is where things really get fun. And this year, BabyCenter notes that “Elon” — the moniker shared with Tesla founder and new Twitter owner Elon Musk — is one of the year’s fastest-falling names, plummeting more than 450 spots from last year. The report suggests that his name will drop in popularity even more next year, too, as a result of Musk “flip-flopping on his $ 44 billion purchase of the social media platform, to the recent firestorm at the company that has included sudden mass firings (and immediate re-hirings) and a wave of resignations.” 

BabyCenter’s “2022 Hottest Baby Names Trends” report finds the name “Elon” is dropping in popularity faster than you can say “Twitter.”

BabyCenter

But “Kanye” bottomed out even worse, falling 3,410 spots since last year, as the artist and designer now known as “Ye” has seen corporate partners like Adidas and Balenciaga sever ties with him in light of antisemitic comments that he’s made on social media. 

Read more: Adidas ends Kanye West partnership in response to antisemitic comments

And: Balenciaga ends Kanye West partnership over rapper’s controversial comments

Celebrity drama also had a chilling effect on names like “Will” (dropping 77 spots), “Smith” (dropping 730 spots), “Jada” (dropping 257 spots) and “Chris” (dropping 42 spots), which BabyCenter suggests stems from the infamous 2022 Oscars slap felt round the world after eventual Academy Award-winner Will Smith hit Chris Rock in the face during the live broadcast. 

On the flip side, BabyCenter says the “coastal grandmother” aesthetic trending on TikTok is pinching cheeks and taking names as it spikes in popularity this year. In other words, parents are leaning into more vintage, traditional favorites like “Mae” (up 198 spots), “Rosemary’ (up 116 spots) and “Eloise” (up 24 spots), which have seen a baby boom. And the name “Erica” — the moniker of Diane Keaton’s middle-aged heroine in “Something’s Gotta Give,” which is considered the epitome of “coastal grandmother chic” — surged more than 55 spots over past year. Other old-school names like “Eloise,” “Lillian,” “Mabel,” “Hazel” and “Adeline” have also seen a bump, the report says.

Read more: From ‘coastal grandmother’ style to accessible farmhouse furniture, boomers are becoming popular among big brands

The “2022 Hottest Baby Name Trends” report analyzed the top rising and falling names from data submitted by BabyCenter parents from about 416,000 of the babies born in 2022. 

These are their top 10 girl’s names for 2022: 

1. Olivia
2. Emma
3. Amelia
4. Ava
5. Sophia 
6. Isabella
7. Luna
8. Mia
9. Charlotte
10. Evelyn

And these are their top 10 boy’s names for 2022: 

1. Liam
2. Noah
3. Oliver
4. Elijah
5. Mateo
6. Lucas
7. Levi
8. Asher
9. James
10. Leo