How to Find Out How Popular Your Baby Name Is

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.

My guess is, you want to know How to Find Out How Popular Your Baby Name Is, right?

Well, I found out the neatest trick when we trying to decide on what to name our last baby (which ended up being a girl) and I am so excited to share it with you!

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to pick a baby name, you know just how daunting of a task it can be.

It’s almost as if you start falling in love with a name and then someone close to you, swipes it away from you in an instant and you’re back to square one.

“Swiper, no swiping!” comes to mind here.

via GIPHY

The first step is write down a list of names you adore. If you’re looking for some ideas, here are some vintage baby names making a comeback or top baby names of 2019.

Now, if you’ve already named your baby, this trick still works. Although, once you’ve signed that birth certificate there’s no going back – sorry!

Either way, it’s just a cool way to determine how popular your baby name is.

How to Find Out How Popular Your Baby Name Is

All you need to do is head over the Social Security Administration website.

Next, scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see boxes that look like this:

In box to the right, type in your baby name (or the name you are thinking of naming your baby).

Select the years you want to see the popularity of it and choose the gender of the name.

Now click “Go”.

Once the page loads, you’ll get historical data on the name you’ve chosen.

I typed in my daughter’s name “Zaylee” and it gave me these results:

The numbers are ranked started at #1 (being the most popular) to several hundred or thousand meaning it’s very unpopular.

For me, I wanted non-traditional, unpopular names for my kids. That is why when we were deciding on a name for our daughter, we used this trick and determined that Zaylee was not a very common or popular name and ending up deciding on that for that reason. We also totally just adored the name!

I then wanted to look up the names of my other two kids (both boys).

I started with my oldest son, we named him Kayzen (kay-zun) and here were the results:

Wow – no results at all. A totally unique name! Whoot!

Finally, I typed in my middle child, our son Tarek (tear-uk). Yes, I got the name from Tarek El Moussa from Flip or Flop on HGTV (I watched a lot of it while on bedrest during this pregnancy) it’s spelled the same but pronounced differently.

The results were:

The same! No top name data! YAY!

Isn’t that just the coolest trick ever?

Does this cost anything to use?

No! It’s a completely free service!

How does it determine how popular a baby name is?

According the SSA website:

“All names are from Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States after 1879. Note that many people born before 1937 never applied for a Social Security card, so their names are not included in our data. For others who did apply, our records may not show the place of birth, and again their names are not included in our data.

All data are from a 100% sample of our records on Social Security card applications as of March 2018.

(Source)

Does this trick work for every country?

No, sorry! This trick only works in the United States but if you live in another country, you might have a similar website where you can find this information. I’d try Googling your country with “popular baby names” and see what comes up.

I sure hope this trick helps you determine how popular your baby name is, and helps you decide one way or another on how to name your baby!

More You'll Love!