American baby name history & trends since 1880
Every name rides a wave.
The pulse of American births since 1880 — the tide that carried Michael, Jennifer, Ashley, and every other name through history. Search any name to see where it peaked, fell, or vanished.
No account. No tracking. Just the story a name leaves in the data.
Cultural weather
On the radar
A few names with obvious cultural patterns: collapse, recovery, endurance, and the occasional national event.
A mid-century giant now living mostly in memory.
TheodoreFull recoveryThe old name returned with institutional confidence.
AshleyRapid declineA generation-defining spike that became timestamped.
KarenCultural eventA normal name forced into public mythology.
HazelResurgentA dormant classic reissued for a new century.
Name graveyard
Dormant names are cultural fossils.
Not bad names. Not gone forever. Just waiting below the statistical floor, carrying a century of dust.
The gallery
The data, drawn.
Thirty interactive views of the same 145 years — extinctions, revivals, gender crossings, the collapse of the top-10 monopoly. Browse all visualizations →
Each dot was once given to thousands of children. Hover to read the epitaph.
HeartbeatsComeback EKGsNames that flatlined, then came roaring back — traced pulse by pulse.
The DebutsBiggest arrivalsThe names that made the loudest first-year entrance, every year since 1880.
Name MapWho bears each name nowNot what parents choose — what the living American name map looks like today.
HeartbeatsComeback EKGsNames that flatlined, then came roaring back — traced pulse by pulse.
How it works
Every name leaves a trail.
NobodyNamed classifies every American name by its trajectory — not just its current ranking, but where it's been and where it's heading. Using SSA birth records since 1880, we track each name's peak year, growth rate, generational shift, and vital status: Rising, Stable, Declining, Endangered, or Extinct. Search any name above to see where it lands — or browse by birth year, decade, or first letter.
Current census
Popular right now
Top names from the latest year on record, included as a living control group.