Olivia vs Emma: The Duel at the Top of the Chart

Nov 6, 2026 Abigail Adams, Editorial writer

For a decade, the top of the girls' chart wasn't a chart at all. It was a two-name duel.

Emma and Olivia finished first and second, in one order or the other, for twelve straight years. No other name got close. And the duel had a plot twist in the middle — and another one at the end that nobody saw coming.

Act one: Emma's years (2014–2018)

Emma — who had already enjoyed a single year at #1 back in 2008 — took the crown in 2014 with 20,970 babies and held it for five straight years. Olivia was second every single time: 19,840, 19,729, 19,414, 18,778, 18,061 babies, always close, never past.

The closest finish came in 2016: Emma 19,550, Olivia 19,414 — a gap of 136 babies in a year with well over a million girls named. That is a photo finish by any standard, and it went Emma's way, as everything did in those years.

Act two: the flip (2019)

In 2019 Olivia finally passed her: 18,577 babies to Emma's 17,226 — and the duel inverted. Olivia has now been #1 for seven straight years (2019–2025), while Emma held second place for six of them, defending the runner-up spot the way she once defended the crown.

Notice what happened to the numbers, though. Emma won her first duel year with 20,970 babies. Olivia won her seventh with 13,544. The crown itself is shrinking — the top of the chart flattens a little more every year, and both duelists have been losing babies to the thousands of names below them even while they fought over first place.

Act three: Charlotte (2025)

The real story of 2025 is the name that wasn't in the duel at all.

Charlotte was #10 in 2014. She climbed slowly — #9, #7, #7, #6 — reached #3 in 2021, and in 2025 she did what she had been threatening to do for years: she passed Emma. Charlotte: 13,400 babies, #2. Emma: 12,754, #3 — Emma's first year off the top two since 2013, and the first genuine reshuffle at the top of the girls' chart in a decade.

Olivia's margin, meanwhile, is the smallest of her reign: 144 babies separate her from Charlotte. The duel is over. What replaces it looks like a three-way fight — and a much more fragile crown.

Our advice: If you're choosing between Olivia and Emma in 2026, the data says you're choosing between two different kinds of classic. Olivia is the reigning champion whose numbers are drifting down as the chart flattens — she will be common in your daughter's classroom, but less dominant every year. Emma is the former champion now visibly cooling, which for many parents is the sweet spot: universally known, effortlessly spelled, and quietly becoming less expected. Either way, watch Charlotte — she's the one actually rising.

The duelists: Olivia, Emma, and the new challenger, Charlotte.