The Top U.S. Baby Names of 2018 Are Out — and Lots of Celeb-Inspired Monikers Are Top

The Social Security Administration’s list of the top U.S. baby names for 2018 is out, and there is a lot of celebrity influence at the top: Liam is No. 1 for boys (hello, Hemsworth!) while Emma reigned for girls (take your pick: Roberts, Stone or Watson).

Rounding out the top 10 were some other Hollywood favorites — Ava, Sophia, William, James, Oliver and Logan — though Charlotte snuck in there too thanks to a certain little princess.

But according to the experts at Nameberry.com, there’s a new wave of celebrity and pop culture influence at work. The highlights:

Harper: The name of Victoria and David Beckham’s youngest child and only daughter hopped back onto the Top 10 for girls. At the same time, Harper was one of the fastest-falling names for boys.

Lucas: The name of hot young actor Lucas Hedges hit the Top 10 for the first time, at No. 8.

Meghan: The popularity of the Duchess of Sussex propelled this former “mom name,” whose popularity peaked in the 1980s, up the charts again to be the fastest-rising girls’ name of 2018.

Archie: Even before the influence of the newborn royal baby, Archie was gaining ground: it moved up more than 200 points on the U.S. charts last year to break into the Top 1,000 for the first time in 30 years.

Genesis: A spiritual name that’s been on the rise for girls, Genesis was the fastest-rising boys’ name last year, perhaps thanks to the son of singer Alicia Keys.

Dior: The surname of classic French designer Christian Dior raced up the charts to be the second fastest-rising name for girls.

Saint: The name of Kanye and Kim Kardashian West‘s son was the second fastest-rising name for boys.

Mila: The popularity of actress Mila Kunis seemingly propelled her name into the girls’ Top 25.

Luna: This moon name, a favorite celebrity baby name used by Chrissy Teigen and John Legend as well as Uma Thurman, vaulted into the girls’ Top 25.

Owen: This ancient saint’s name, popularized by actor Owen Wilson, broke into the Top 25 for boys for the first time. Owen is also a popular character name, featured in movies and TV shows such as Jurassic World, Fast & Furious and Grey’s Anatomy.

Yara: It beat out Arya and Khaleesi to be the fastest-rising Game of Thrones name in 2018 (though plenty of parents are still picking a whole host of names from the show). Props to black-ish star and all-around awesome millennial Yara Shahidi for popularizing the name, too.

 

Bowie: Surname of rocker David, it is one of the fastest-rising names for boys (and the name of one of Zoë Saldana‘s sons).

Audrina: This name previously rose on the strength of reality star Audrina Partridge, but was last year’s fastest-falling girls’ name, losing 322 places to drop out of the Top 1,000.

Elsa: The Frozen queen finally lost her place in the sun, dropping more than 200 places in 2018.

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