The Top 5 Baby Name Trends We’re Predicting for 2025

Ready or not—here comes 2025. It’s a new year and, if you’re expecting a baby, a new chapter of life that’s bound to usher in loads of change. On your to-do list as you prepare for the times ahead: Pick a name for your upcoming addition. Don’t worry—we’ve got of-the-moment suggestions!

Based on data from The Bump, we’re predicting a whole new era of baby names inspired by events, movements and pop-culture happenings. So read on to find out more about the types of monikers we think will be on birth certificates everywhere in 2025—and discover the stats, studies and news we’ve analyzed to bring you the next big baby name trends.

Star-Power Girl Names

The future looks bright for fierce feminine pop stars. Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX remind us that women can (and should!) be authentically and unapologetically themselves, free to embrace their full potential and break away from societal expectations. With new powerhouse stars to look up to—and the topic of female empowerment taking center stage—we’re predicting a major spike in pop star girl names in 2025.

In fact, some pop star-inspired girl names have already seen a significant change in ranking on The Bump: Sabrina increased by a whopping 75 percent since last year. Rina, Kali and Tyla have also increased in popularity this year. Finally, Olivia is in fourth place and Charlotte (as in Charli XCX) is in position 16 on The Bump, and there’s no doubt these names will continue to dominate the charts in 2025.

Of course, a pop star doesn’t become a sensation without her songs. And this year has proven that even names simply mentioned in a hit album can make an impression on expectant parents. Taylor Swift loves to include meaningful names in her songs, and she dropped some new ones in her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department. It’s no surprise that a few of these names, including Clara (“Clara Bow”), Lucy (“The Tortured Poets Department”) and Aimee (“thanK you aIMee”) climbed between 5 and 10 percent in popularity since the album’s release in April. But out of all the names on the record, Cassandra (“Cassandra”) surged the most, ranking 37 percent higher in page visits on The Bump.

As one of the most influential and diverse genres on the planet with the largest global audience, pop—and its famous female icons—continues the mission to transform the music industry and the zeitgeist, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for how it also changes the trajectory of baby names in 2025. Here are more star-power girl names we think will make it from the Billboard Hot 100 to birth certificates in the coming year:

Out-of-This-World Baby Names

Felt a change in the atmosphere? Several groundbreaking cosmic events have taken place over the past year: the total solar eclipse in April, the supermoons in September and the Northern Lights that have even been visible across the world.

What’s more, exploration has been a major driving force for space companies this year as they continue to widen the frontiers for sub-orbital space tourism. Some space startups, including Deep Blue Aerospace in China, have already begun to sell their first space flight tickets for 2027. And New Shepard, a rocket created by Blue Origin for commercial space flights, completed its seventh mission with six people on board back in May.

Suffice it to say that Americans are becoming increasingly fascinated by space and the advancements in cosmic exploration too. According to a 2023 Pew study, 69 percent of Americans believe the US should continue to be a world leader in space, while 47 percent have engaged in at least one space-related activity, such as watching space launches or visiting planetariums.

With cool innovations in space travel and additional cosmic happenings on the horizon (mark your calendar for the March 2025 solar eclipse), more parents are going to search the stars for the perfect name for baby. Some of our favorite names inspired by outer space already have a leg up in rankings: Orion increased in popularity on The Bump by about 24 percent, while Nebula saw an 18 percent boost. Cassiel spiked 15 percent in 2024, while Jupiter and Venus remain on a slow but steady climb. Finally, the name Nyx (meaning “night”), sits 41 percent higher than it did last year and will undoubtedly continue to skyrocket in 2025.

If there’s any trend that’ll rearrange the cosmos in the coming year, it’ll be out-of-this-world baby names inspired by stars, planets and the great beyond. Here are a few more you might want in your orbit:

Fantasy Fiction Baby Names

Over the years, we’ve seen iconic fantasy fiction stories like Harry Potter, Twilight and The Lord of the Rings make their respective mark on pop culture. Now, with new fantasy series on the rise, we’re likely to see how more magic-infused literature influences culture and baby name options.

Whether you’re the BookTok or BookTube type (TikTok and YouTube sub-communities just for book-related content), chances are you’ve come across the internet’s current fantasy craze. And it’s all thanks to the surging popularity of A Court of Thorns and Roses (aka ACOTAR), by Sarah J. Maas. Chock full of fairies, fallen angels, ancient curses and passionate romance, fans of fiction and fantasy are absolutely spellbound by this five-book series. According to a report, almost 5 million print copies of ACOTAR have been sold as of July 2024 alone—and that’s on top of the 38 million that book lovers have gotten their hands on since its original release in 2015. (No, it’s not new—but BookTok has amazingly found the series a whole new generation of readers!)

The fantasy book boom sparked by Maas’ viral series could explain the sudden surge in popularity of enchanting baby names on The Bump. Throughout 2024, our Fantasy Baby Names list has climbed leaps and bounds and now sits among our top 15 baby name lists of this year. Our Ethereal Baby Names list also slowly spread its wings, and featured names that now make up roughly 20 percent of our 40 most popular baby names. These include Mia, Evelyn, Oliver, Luna, Avery, Theodore and Arlo.

So what is it about fantasy fiction—and the names that come with it—that bookworm parents of this generation find so fascinating? Simply put, it’s the great escape of reading. According to a recent report, fantasy fiction offers readers respite, hope and moments of levity. The social, political and economic struggles of today have left many of us feeling uncertain about the future, but fantasy fiction opens up an alternate universe where we can briefly escape the pressures of life.

The broader joy of reading can certainly inspire the act of naming baby, but specific books certainly do too. Names plucked directly from ACOTAR and other popular books by Maas have also climbed significantly on our charts this year: Nesta and Morrigan increased by about 9 percent, while Emerie saw a 25 percent bump. Rowan, the fifth most visited baby name on The Bump, continues to dominate for both boys and girls.

Here are more fantasy-inspired names to broaden baby’s imagination:

Grandpa and Grandma Baby Names

Everything old is new again. This past year, we saw several celebrity parents pluck inspiration from their family trees, naming their newest additions after cherished grandparents. Sydney Lotuaco from Bachelor’s Nation and husband Nick Wehby welcomed their first child, Remy Lee, in July. The name Remy, which appears on our Historical Baby Names list, was inspired by the couple’s two grandmothers, who Lotuaco says “played a part in bringing [them] together.” Brandon and Cayley Jenner welcomed a baby girl via home birth the following month, and named her Joan Almond after Cayley’s beloved grandmother, Joanie. (Joan was one of the most popular baby names of the 1900s.) We love that tradition is playing a major role in this trend, and bringing some familial nostalgia to baby names. After all, grandparents do a lot for their families and play very important roles in the lives of their grandchildren.

Support from grandparents has become more vital than ever, and research has found a positive correlation between grandparent involvement and a mother’s mental health.

Multi-generational travel has also become increasingly popular: According to a 2023 poll of 3,300 grandparents by the Family Travel Association, 54 percent of grandparents reported taking initiative in organizing multi-generational travel plans. In addition, more than two-thirds of the grandparents surveyed said that spending quality time with their grandkids was the most important part of their holiday experience.

Old-fashioned monikers, in general, are becoming more fashionable too. Our Vintage Baby Names list placed among the top 15 baby name pages on The Bump and doubled in page-view rankings between 2023 and 2024 overall.

In 2025, we’ll likely see an epic comeback of classic and retro names from the early 1900s. And because these names haven’t been widely used for the last two generations, they’ll feel fresh and new again!

Here are 10 beautiful vintage baby names that have climbed the charts in 2024—and are prime for the picking in 2025:

Sunny Baby Names

Looking back on 2024, several major climate events impacted our day-to-day lives. Hurricanes, floods and high-magnitude earthquakes left their mark and exacerbated anxiety around global warming. In fact, a 2023 study found that 63 percent of Americans are expecting climate change and its effects to worsen in the coming years.

When the sky goes gloomy and gray, and the world seems dark and stormy, what do we most crave? Sunshine! With that in mind, lots of parents are leaning into names that radiate warmth, light and life. As of July 2024, Eliana, Luca, Aiden, Aurora, Nora, Aurelia, Lucas, Ellie, Ayla and other names connected to light by their definitions make up about 10 percent of the top 100 names on The Bump. Luca, Nora, Lucas and Ellie, for example, directly translate to “light,” “shining light” or “bringer of light.” Other popular names like Aiden (meaning “little fire”), Aurora (meaning “dawn”) and Aurelia (meaning “golden”), bring more subtle brilliance to baby’s arrival.

It’s safe to say that people are searching for a silver lining (and a slice of sunshine) in the midst of major climate concerns. Sunny baby names bring a lifetime of hope and promise—and we’ve got plenty more with dazzling meanings to keep baby’s light burning bright. Here are a few we think will shine through in 2025: