Most popular girl names in the U.S. [2022]

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Keith Lindner

Keith is the father of a 3 year old that keeps him on his toes at all times. He has over 10 years experience in research and wants to help new parents find ways to embrace the chaos during those first few years of parenting.

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Most recent data on the top 1,000 popular girl names

When it comes to the most popular baby girl names, the top spots have been pretty steady for a while now. Just a few names — Olivia, Emma, Ava, Charlotte, Sophia and Isabella — have pretty much held rank as the top baby girl names for the last decade. 

Here’s a preview of the top 10:

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

Some interesting naming trends we’ve noticed

• In 2022, it’s all about the letter A. Its #trending. Eight of the top ten girl names end with “A” – Olivia, Emma, Amelia, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, and Luna. And a bunch of the fastest-growing girl names started with the letter A as well.
• Three-syllable girl names seem to be on the rise, with many of the top 100 girl names following this pattern. This wasn’t the case for the boys. 
• An interesting trend that has reversed this year was the decline in patriotic girl names. Both Justice and Liberty dropped over 100 spots from 2021 to 2022.
• We noticed some beloved fictional characters as well. Gilmore Girls Lorelai and Rory make the cut along with basically every name from “Bridgerton.”
• And of course there is Karen. To nobody’s surprise, this name dropped significantly because social media decided to make every Karen’s life forever harder. 

There are lots of other interesting trends as well so if you’re looking for baby girl name inspiration, we recommend a scan through the list below. You never know what might jump out at you. 

Remember, popular girl names are popular for a reason

With this being a post about the most popular girl names, we have to talk about what that actually means. Popularity is a really dominant part of baby naming today. And it feels quite personal. 

You might think you’re unique if you tend to prefer more uncommon names, but actually what we’re starting to see is an entire new generation of parents that want their child’s name to stand out from the crowd. The most common thing you can do is actually not like things that are common. You might need to read that last sentence twice. 

So just remember that popular really just means well-liked. It’s far less common today than it was 20 years ago that your child will grow up with 10 other kids with the same name simply because there are so many new names. 

Even the most popular names you’ll see below are far less of a % of the total names than they used to be. Hopefully that makes popularity a bit less scary for some parents reading this because we think it’s safe to say that no child’s life was ruined by having a well-liked name.

We’ll stop teasing you now and let you get on with the full list. Fingers crossed this list can help you start to figure things out when it comes to choosing a name for your baby. 

Top 1,000 most popular girl names

Where does popular girl name data come from?

The Social Security Administration (SSA) releases birth certificate data typically around Mother’s Day each year. They track the most popular baby names from the previous year and even provide some interesting stats to go with it. Listed above are the 1,000 most popular girl names from 2022, as determined by birth certificate data. 

All baby name data is reported from the “First Name” field on the Social Security card application. The given name must be at least two characters long in order to be included. Names with fewer than five occurrences in any geographic area are not included. 

Note: if you’re a data wizard and want to go super deep, you can search the entire SSA database for over 100 years’ worth of baby name data. 

A final word from The Baby Swag crew

Whatever your approach to choosing a name, this list of the 1,000 most popular girl names of 2022, should help you consider lots of options. 

There are lots of things to think (and worry about) when you’re trying to conceive or already pregnant. Names hopefully don’t have to be a worry. They can be your chance to just sit back and have a little fun.