The Decade's Biggest Climbers

Nov 8, 2026 Abigail Adams, Editorial writer

A one-year jump can be a fluke. A ten-year climb is a fact. So we measured the decade: every name that had a real base in 2015 — at least 300 babies — ranked by how many places it gained by 2025. This is a different list from our fastest-rising names of 2025 and from the small-base rockets in One-Year Rockets: in fact, not one name appears on both this list and the 2025 rockets list. Decade climbers are the names that were already somebody in 2015 and became everybody by 2025.

Girls: Lainey's decade

Name	2015 babies	2025 babies	Change	Rank move
Alaia	364	2,301	+532%	#696 → #117
Lainey	491	5,729	+1,067%	#578 → #30
Noa	330	1,328	+302%	#753 → #227
Aurelia	301	1,032	+243%	#808 → #292
Magnolia	422	2,224	+427%	#623 → #123
Rosie	319	1,066	+234%	#773 → #283
Margot	475	2,569	+441%	#587 → #102
Sutton	398	1,682	+323%	#650 → #181
Wren	368	1,309	+256%	#690 → #231
Collins	365	1,263	+246%	#695 → #243
Oakley	440	1,922	+337%	#606 → #156
Rory	377	1,316	+249%	#678 → #229

Lainey is the decade in one name: 491 babies and #578 in 2015; 5,729 babies and #30 in 2025 — a gain of 5,238 babies, the largest absolute rise of any girls' name over the decade, on top of the second-biggest rank gain. (She is also, not coincidentally, the #1 girls' name in South Dakota.) Alaia edges her on rank alone, up 579 places to #117. And the table's texture is unmistakably 2020s: vintage revivals (Margot, Magnolia, Rosie) climbing alongside surname-style picks (Sutton, Collins, Oakley).

Boys: Callum, and the climbers around him

Name	2015 babies	2025 babies	Change	Rank move
Callum	320	2,995	+836%	#695 → #118
Elian	335	2,436	+627%	#675 → #146
Callan	327	1,908	+483%	#687 → #189
Adonis	323	1,442	+346%	#690 → #240
Luka	500	3,867	+673%	#532 → #85
Ares	300	1,121	+274%	#714 → #295
Atlas	575	4,404	+666%	#486 → #75
Zayn	353	1,350	+282%	#654 → #254
Hayes	497	2,226	+348%	#534 → #162
Tatum	449	1,723	+284%	#574 → #203
Arlo	537	2,434	+353%	#504 → #147
Theo	724	3,938	+444%	#414 → #82

Callum (up 577 places) and his near-twin Callan (up 498) lead the boys, with Elian between them. Luka climbed 447 places to #85 — while his spelling-mate Luca was doing the same thing higher up the chart, gaining 6,157 babies to reach #14. Two spellings, one sound, both climbing for a decade.

The giants gained the most babies of all

Rank gains favour names that start low. Measured in babies, the decade's champion started near the top: Theodore added 9,200 babies — 4,155 in 2015 to 13,355 in 2025 — and moved from #99 to #4 (his full arc is in Theodore: The Boys' Comeback King). Behind him: Luca (+6,157 babies, to #14), Mateo (+6,032, to #8), Lainey (+5,238) and Eliana (+5,199), who climbed from #102 into the Top 10 at #10. Every name on this page — the rank climbers and the giants alike — had at least 300 babies in 2015 and at least 1,000 in 2025. Nothing here is a spike.

Our advice: a decade climber is the safest "fresh" pick there is: proven in 2015, ascendant for ten years, and — for most names in these tables — still outside the Top 100. If you want a name that feels current without being this year's rocket, start here. For the five-year view, see The Fastest-Rising Baby Names in America.