Revealed! Our Top Names of 2023 So Far

Updated Tue Apr 04 2023

What are the most popular names of 2023 so far?

Baby name popularity is a hot topic for expectant parents, but we won’t find out this year’s official rankings until well into 2024 – not much use if you’re naming a baby in the next few months!

Official baby name data published by agencies such as the Social Security Administration is out of date as soon as it’s released. The latest US popularity charts – topped by Liam and Olivia – represent babies born way back in 2021.

So if you want to find out which names parents-to-be are considering now, a little detective work is required! This is our roundup of Nameberry’s most viewed girl and boy names of 2023 so far.

Nameberry vs. Real World Popularity

Experience has shown our lists to be an excellent indicator of a name’s future popularity. For example, names like Maeve and Ophelia, Arlo and August from Nameberry’s Top 10 for the first quarter of 2021 went on to leap up the official charts that year.

Other top names, like Esti and Cosmo from this year’s list, are likely to stay rare for a while yet. They have been boosted into the spotlight by recent high-profile birth announcements – leading to lots of Nameberry searches – but we’re very unlikely to see them break the official US Top 100 in 2023.

And longtime popular names that are now trending downwards in real terms – such as Abigail and Addison for girls or Michael and Mason for boys – are absent from our Top 100 entirely.

The top baby names for 2023 listed here mostly represent the kind of up-and-coming choices that feel fresh and cool to this year’s crop of new parents.

Read on for our full rankings and some key trend takeaways for the year ahead.

Top 10 Names of 2023 So Far

There’s a new #1 for both girls and boys since this time last year! Luxury replaces Maeve as our most popular girl name of 2023 so far, and Aire ousts Soren as the most popular boy name.

Both are currently well outside the official Top 100 in the US. In fact, they are by far our rarest ever reigning #1 names at this point in the year!

Luxury was only used for 10 baby girls born in 2021, but it was recently nominated by Nameberry Editor-in-Chief Sophie Kihm as one of her top names to watch in 2023 and beyond.

“I have a feeling it will rise exponentially,” she explains, “We’ve seen many more babies of both sexes named Lux over the past few years, and Luxury is the obvious next step. I think it's just one celebrity baby away from being a massive hit.”

Aire, meanwhile, has already received its big celebrity boost! After Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott announced their son’s new name in January, searches for this highly unusual name – so unusual that it didn’t feature at all on last year’s official list – skyrocketed.

Aire fits into so many cool categories right now. It’s nature-inspired, sounds like the aspirational word name Heir, and also boasts that fashionable -aire ending that we predicted would be among the top name trends for 2023.

Top 10 Girl Names of 2023 So Far

Two girl names entered the Top 10 for the first time this year – both surprising, albeit for different reasons!

The first new entrant is Luxury, an aspirational word name in the same mold as Legacy or Royalty, but with even more sparkle. Intriguingly, it’s particularly popular with our visitors from India. If you have any insight into this mystery – please let us know!

The other new entrant for girls is storybook classic Alice. A rising vintage favorite in recent years, it has ranked highly on Nameberry for a long time, but this is the first time it has broken into our coveted Top 10.

Currently at #64 on the official charts, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Alice break into the Top 50 this year, for the first time in almost a century.

Other popular girl names on Nameberry include long and lyrical options like Aurelia, Aurora and Ophelia, as well as sleek mythical names like Luna, Iris and Maeve.

Top 10 Boy Names of 2023 So Far

Three boy names entered the Nameberry Top 10 in the first quarter of this year. Two – Oliver and Cassius – return after a short absence, while Aire makes its debut at #1.

Royal remains a firm favorite with our visitors, boosted by the hit Amazon Prime series Outer Range, starring Josh Brolin as rancher Royal Abbott.

Royal currently ranks at #370 in the US but it checks a lot of trend boxes right now. It’s an aspirational word name with a retro feel and now a cool pop culture namesake to lend it extra visibility. Watch this space!

Other popular boy names on Nameberry include stylish S-enders, like Atticus and Silas, as well as Euro-chic choices like Hugo, Felix and Soren.

Explore the full Top 100 names for each sex below.

Coming In, Going Out

Since this time last year, 17 new girl names and 16 new boy names have entered the Nameberry Top 100.

Heading in for girls are names with strong, spiky sounds like X, Z and K. Beatrix joins her more demure sister Beatrice in the Top 100, and bold, punchy mini names like Kaia, Zara and Esti replace gentler choices like Mia, Lola and Evie.

El- and Em- names are among the biggest fallers this year, with Elena, Elizabeth, Ellie, Emily and Emma all dropping out of the Top 100. All still rank highly in the official charts, but this is a strong sign that this name sound – which has been everywhere in recent decades – is finally starting to lose its luster.

Dramatic, dark academia style names like Andromeda, Isolde and Wednesday are among the big risers this year – the latter thrown into the spotlight by the hugely popular Netflix series.

And less conventional choices like celebrity baby name Esti, novel word name Luxury, and alphabet-inspired Abcde have also piqued our visitors’ interest in the first three months of 2023. Although we suspect the latter ranks so highly mainly due to curiosity!

Here are the girl names that entered the Top 100 this year:

And here are those that left:

Heading in for boys are short, cool names with an easygoing feel – from the super-rare and super-modern Aire to more established choices like Owen, Remy, Rhys and Zayn.

Boy names beginning with K are the biggest winners this year, with Kieran, Kit, Kylian and Kamakanaalohamaikalani all entering the Top 100.

Kylian, of course, received a big boost from French soccer star Mbappé. And Kamakanaalohamaikalani – a Hawaiian name meaning “beloved gift from the heavens” – has the distinction of being the longest name in our database, which might explain why it has attracted so much visitor attention so far in 2023!

Dropping out of the Nameberry Top 100 this year are two popular O-ending choices, Nico and Mateo, as well the edgy word names Danger, Wolf and Phoenix.

Here are the boy names that entered the Top 100:

And here are those that left:

Biggest Name Trends of 2023 So Far

A quarter of the way through the year, we’re already starting to see some prominent themes emerging in the names our visitors are searching. Here are some standout trends for 2023 so far.

Short Names, Long Vowels

Short, simple names hold a lot of appeal for contemporary parents – especially in an increasingly international world where names that translate easily between languages and cultures are a boon.

More than half of the girl names in our latest Top 100 and more than three quarters of the boy names are just one or two syllables. And almost all of those contain one of the super-stylish long vowel sounds that characterize the current crop of compact names.

For girls, the long A and I sounds are particularly fashionable. On-trend choices like Ada, Daisy, Freya, Hazel, Maeve and Sadie boast the long A, while Ayla, Iris, Ivy, Kaia, Lyra and Violet put the long I sound front and center.

For boys, long O sounds rule, particularly at the end of fashionable names like Arlo, Elio, Enzo, Hugo, Milo, Otto and Theo. But long E, I and U sounds are also well represented among the boy names that make our list: think Felix and Levi, Miles and Silas, Hugo and Luke.

Here is a selection of the coolest choices in this category.

Dark Academia Names

Distinguished, dramatic names with a dark edge are hugely popular with our visitors right now – particularly those in the 18-24 age bracket.

Dark academia names are usually long and weighty, containing strong consonants and at least three syllables. They hail from history, literature and legend, and have their roots in ancient languages and cultures. Think Andromeda, Aurelius, Cordelia, Persephone, Ignatius…

Several of the dark academia names trending on Nameberry have been boosted by pop culture connections. Clunky-cool Cosmo was chosen by Scarlett Johansson for her son in 2021, and Lucifer, Ottilie and Wednesday have also benefited in a big way from recent pop culture exposure.

Drawn from the Dictionary

Word names continue to grow in popularity with our visitors!

The majority of word names attracting a lot of attention on Nameberry are inspired by nature – from popular choices like Hazel, Ivy and Rowan to quirky picks like Clementine, Poppy and Zephyr.

But we’re also seeing a growing group of fashionable word names relating to time, like August and Wednesday, and aspirational modern virtues, like Luxury and Royal.

These are the choices that make our current Top 100, but there are many more lurking just below the radar. We wouldn’t be surprised to see time-related names like Sunday, Holiday, June and Winter, or modern virtue names like Honor, Loyal, Legacy and True joining the ranks in the future.

Prim and Proper Names

At the other end of the style spectrum are a whole host of quiet classics that attract a sometimes surprising amount of attention from our visitors.

As well as storybook Alice, which makes its Top 10 debut this year, Nameberry visitors love simple, traditional names that stand the test of time, like Grace, Sophie, Henry and Thomas.

But classic doesn’t always have to mean popular! Our Top 100 list also includes plenty of options that share the mature, frills-free feel of these popular classics, but that are actually pretty rare for babies born in 2023.

Choices like Arthur, Graham, Simon and Oscar for boys and Beatrice, Edith, Florence and Jane for girls rank well outside the official Top 100 baby names, but they don’t call attention to the fact. Perfect for parents looking for a low-key classic that their child can make their own!

Top 100 Girl Names of 2023 So Far

Top 100 Boy Names of 2023 So Far

About the Author

Emma Waterhouse

Emma Waterhouse joined the team in 2017, writing about everything from the top baby name trends 2023 to how not to choose the next big baby name. As Nameberry's head moderator, she also helps to keep our active forums community ticking.

Emma's articles on names and naming trends have been featured in publications including the Huffington Post, People, Today's Parent, Fatherly, and Good Housekeeping.

A linguist by background, Emma speaks several languages and lives in England's smallest county with her husband and four young children. You can reach her at emma@nameberry.com.

View all of Emma Waterhouse's articles