Enduring Names

Names whose curve barely moves across the whole series. The rarest movement category, and the only one that is a genuine achievement rather than a phase.

Every name here is placed by how its recent years in the birth records compare with its earlier ones — so the list moves as the records do.

Rankings for

8,721 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Lucille Lucille is a girl's name from the Latin for light, given to children born at daybreak.
Girl French #237 in US
Alexandra Alexandra is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," and it appears as a title of the goddess Hera before it was ever a personal name.
Girl Greek #238 in US
Dallas Dallas is the only rising name in this group — it peaked in 2015 and is still climbing, at 238th in the United States.
Unisex Scottish #238 in US
Camille Camille is a unisex name of Latin origin, from a Roman word for a young attendant at religious ceremonies.
Unisex French #240 in US
Warren Warren is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and it is the second-strongest revival we hold — it peaked in 1921 and now ranks 240th in the United States on 1,493 births, a century later.
Boy Norman #240 in US
Collins Collins is a unisex name with two separate origins. In Ireland it anglicizes Ó Coileáin, from a word for a young hound; in England it is a patronymic meaning son of Colin, itself a medieval pet form of Nicholas.
Unisex Irish #241 in US
Milan Milan is a unisex name of Slavic origin meaning "gracious" or "dear," from the element mil.
Unisex Slavic #242 in US
Delaney Delaney names a river, not a challenger — the Irish behind it is the dark one of the Slaney, so the dark challenger gloss that appears everywhere online mistakes a place for a fight.
Girl Irish #242 in US
Ellis Ellis is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is my God."
Unisex Hebrew #243 in US
Diana Diana is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon.
Girl Latin #244 in US
Mark Mark is a boy's name of Latin origin, most likely meaning "of Mars," borne by the evangelist who wrote the earliest gospel.
Boy Latin #245 in US
Ana Ana is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "favor" or "grace," and it is the form of Anna used across Spanish, Portuguese and Slavic Europe.
Girl Hebrew #245 in US
Miriam Miriam is the origin of Mary, Maria, Marie, Maureen, Marion and Molly — the largest name family in Europe — and it still charts in all seven markets we track, with its top four inside 46 places of each other.
Girl Hebrew #246 in US
Shepherd Shepherd is a boy's name of English origin, the occupational surname for someone who tended sheep.
Boy English #246 in US
Reagan Reagan means little king, and our data shows the opposite of what most people assume — American births more than halved during the first two years of Ronald Reagan's presidency and did not take off until a decade after he left office.
Unisex Irish #248 in US
Louis Louis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
Boy Germanic #249 in US
Rachel Rachel is a girl's name from Hebrew meaning ewe, borne by Jacob's wife in Genesis.
Girl Hebrew #250 in US
Lane Lane means a narrow way between hedges, and it is one of only two names in this sweep our data marks as rising — it peaked in 2019 and stands at 250th in the United States on 1,495 births.
Boy English #250 in US
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
Boy Germanic #251 in US
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
Girl Latin #251 in US
Lilly Lilly is a girl's name of Latin origin taken from the flower, from lilium.
Girl Latin #252 in US
Harvey Harvey is a boy's name of Breton origin meaning "battle worthy."
Boy Breton #253 in US
Faith Faith is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "trust" or "belief," one of the virtue names the Puritans put into use in the sixteenth century.
Girl English #254 in US
Nash Nash is a boy's name of English origin meaning "at the ash tree".
Boy English #255 in US
Juliana Juliana means youthful, from the Roman family that claimed descent from Venus — and it is the name of a Dutch queen who abdicated in favor of her daughter, as her mother and daughter both did in turn.
Girl Latin #256 in US
Amy Amy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "beloved," and unusually the name is a past participle — someone who has been loved rather than someone lovable.
Girl English #257 in US
Marcus Marcus is a boy's name of Latin origin most likely meaning "of Mars," and it was one of only about eighteen first names Roman men used.
Boy Latin #258 in US
Leila Leila means night, from Arabic, and it is one of the most evenly spread names on this site — France 211th, the United States 259th, England and Wales 269th, Scotland 282nd and Ireland 339th, a spread of just 128 places.
Girl Arabic #259 in US
Omar Omar is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "flourishing" or "long-lived."
Boy Arabic #260 in US
Brandon Brandon is a boy's name from an English place name meaning broom-covered hill, often confused with the Irish Brendan.
Boy English #261 in US
Mariana Mariana names the deepest place on earth by a long chain — the Mariana Trench is called after the Mariana Islands, which were named for a Spanish queen, so the name reaches the sea floor through a monarch.
Girl Spanish #261 in US
Paul Paul is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," borne by the apostle whose letters shaped Christian doctrine.
Boy Latin #262 in US
Norah Norah is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "honor," and it exists because Irish speakers clipped the front syllable off Honora.
Girl Irish #262 in US
Ismael Ismael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God will hear," the son of Abraham and Hagar and a prophet in Islam.
Boy Arabic #263 in US
Ophelia Ophelia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "help" or "benefit."
Girl Greek #264 in US
Elaina Elaina is a girl's name of Greek origin, a variant of Helen.
Girl Greek #267 in US
Selena Selena means the moon, and its curve has a shape we see nowhere else — American births went 918 in 1994 to 3,840 in 1995, the year Selena Quintanilla was killed on 31 March, then fell back to 2,296 the next year.
Girl Greek #268 in US
Cyrus Cyrus is a boy's name of Persian origin whose meaning is not settled.
Boy Persian #268 in US
Steven Steven is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, and the phonetic respelling of Stephen.
Boy Greek #271 in US
Malcolm Malcolm means devotee of Columba, and it is one of only two rising names in this group — 168th in Canada, 272nd in the United States, 362nd in Scotland, 539th in Ireland, 1333rd in England and Wales and 1629th in France, and climbing in our data rather than falling.
Boy Scottish #272 in US
Eric Eric is a boy's name of Old Norse origin meaning "eternal ruler" or "sole ruler."
Boy Norse #273 in US
Luciana Luciana is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "light".
Girl Latin #273 in US
Javier Javier means the new house, and it is Basque rather than Spanish — Saint Francis Xavier was named for his family's castle at Xabier, so the name is a place that became a surname and then a first name.
Boy Spanish #274 in US
Juliet Juliet is thirteen in the play, and Shakespeare says so twice — the Nurse gives her age precisely, which most productions quietly ignore and most readers never notice.
Girl English #274 in US
Lola Lola is a girl's name of Spanish origin meaning "sorrows."
Girl Spanish #275 in US
Otto Otto is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "wealth" or "fortune."
Boy Germanic #277 in US
Azalea Azalea is a girl's name taken from the flowering shrub, whose botanical name comes from the Greek azaleos, meaning dry.
Girl Greek #278 in US
Lena Lena is a girl's name used as a short form of Helena, Magdalena and Elena, so it usually carries the sense "light" or "torch."
Girl Greek #279 in US

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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