Baby names of 2017

Emma and Liam topped the lists in 2017, out of 3,577,417 births recorded across 30,111 different names. That is 2.5% fewer than the 2016 files hold. About 3.6 million of them are alive today.

← 2016 All years 2018 →

Girls

#	Name	Births
1	Emma	19,873
2	Olivia	18,778
3	Ava	16,017
4	Isabella	15,263
5	Sophia	14,947
6	Mia	13,521
7	Charlotte	12,969
8	Amelia	11,870
9	Evelyn	10,748
10	Abigail	10,645
11	Harper	10,524
12	Emily	9,817
13	Elizabeth	9,004
14	Avery	8,237
15	Sofia	8,175
16	Ella	8,084
17	Madison	7,910
18	Scarlett	7,721
19	Victoria	7,314
20	Aria	7,168
21	Grace	7,087
22	Chloe	6,982
23	Camila	6,776
24	Penelope	6,668
25	Riley	6,368

All 200 girls’ names of 2017 (18,448 recorded)

Boys

#	Name	Births
1	Liam	18,874
2	Noah	18,507
3	William	15,046
4	James	14,362
5	Logan	14,061
6	Benjamin	13,858
7	Mason	13,602
8	Elijah	13,449
9	Jacob	13,269
10	Oliver	13,224
11	Lucas	13,032
12	Michael	12,726
13	Alexander	12,577
14	Ethan	12,483
15	Daniel	11,758
16	Matthew	11,732
17	Aiden	11,357
18	Joseph	10,488
19	Henry	10,482
20	Jackson	10,469
21	Samuel	10,449
22	David	10,244
23	Sebastian	10,197
24	Carter	9,833
25	Wyatt	9,727

All 200 boys’ names of 2017 (14,262 recorded)

Biggest climbers, girls

Names that gained the most ground on 2016:

Ensley #2,412 → #969 +1,443
Oaklynn #1,908 → #888 +1,020
Dream #1,667 → #825 +842
Oaklyn #1,425 → #676 +749
Melania #1,649 → #932 +717
Emberly #1,241 → #627 +614
Octavia #1,018 → #595 +423
Paisleigh #1,203 → #838 +365

Biggest climbers, boys

Names that gained the most ground on 2016:

Wells #1,413 → #916 +497
Kairo #1,221 → #802 +419
Caspian #1,199 → #860 +339
Colson #1,049 → #736 +313
Kace #1,183 → #872 +311
Nova #1,229 → #920 +309
Kashton #933 → #638 +295
Koa #1,221 → #936 +285

Nova is here because the boys’ file records it: the SSA publishes every name given to five or more babies of one sex, and a rank is a position within that list. It is not a claim about whose name it is.

First recorded in 2017, girls

Names the SSA had never published before 2017:

Camreigh 91
Taishmara 38
Teylie 24
Kior 20
Aaleiya 19
Kamreigh 18
Sayyora 15
Mohana 13
Imona 11
Avajade 11

First recorded in 2017, boys

Names the SSA had never published before 2017:

Asahd 59
Kashdon 30
Kassian 23
Draxler 18
Noctis 17
Ikeni 17
Dakston 13
Arjunreddy 12
Amunra 12
Irtaza 12

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby-name files. Names given to fewer than five babies in a year are not published, so the totals here run below the true number of births. How far below is not the same in every year: the files hold 201,484 births for 1880 and 3,315,343 for 2025, so a change from one year to the next in the early decades is partly a change in what the record covers.