New Names That Stuck

Between 2013 and 2020, 2,977 names appeared in America's birth records for the first time — the first year at least five babies received them. Most went nowhere. By 2025, only 1,055 of them — about one in three — were still on the chart at all, and just 45 had climbed into the national Top 1000. Only ten of the 2,977 have reached the Top 500.

These are the strongest of the class — the new names that stuck. Twelve per gender, ranked by where they stand in 2025.

Girls: Kehlani leads the class of the 2010s

Kehlani first appeared in 2015 with 24 babies; a decade later she stands at #150 with 1,965 — the highest any name of the 2013–2020 debut class has climbed. Oaklynn (9 babies in 2013 → 1,955, #153) and Wrenley (15 in 2017 → 1,847, #158) complete a top three that didn't exist, as recorded names, before 2013.

The strangest arc in the table belongs to Adhara: five babies in 2014, still exactly five in 2020 — then 807 in 2025. Some names don't climb. They wait.

Boys: a smaller, later class

Only three boys' debuts of 2013–2020 have reached the Top 500: Kayce (6 babies in 2013 → 816, #375), Kylo (5 in 2015 → 764, #403) and Cassian (68 in 2017 → 602, #477). And the table holds a small natural experiment: the spellings Chozen and Chosen both debuted in 2017, and both stuck — 533 babies against 504. The z is winning, narrowly.

What "stuck" looks like

The survivors show two patterns. Some climbed fast and kept climbing: Kehlani was already at 1,687 babies by 2020, Oaklynn at 1,009, Wrenley at 267 and rising. Others slept first — Kayce managed 6 babies in 2013 and only 35 by 2020, then surged to 816 — so a quiet first decade doesn't settle the question either. And sticking doesn't have to mean still rising: Haisley peaked in 2020 with 806 babies and has cooled to 593, but a decade after her debut she is still #482. Established, if no longer climbing.

Our advice: if you love a genuinely new name, its trajectory over its first years is the tell — the class of 2013–2020 proves a name can go from five babies to the Top 200 in a decade, and that most never will. For names newer still, see The Newest Names in America; for this year's arrivals in the chart that matters, see Brand New in the Top 1000: The Class of 2025.

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Source: U.S. Social Security Administration · Data through 2025 · Updated 2026