Names that Peaked in 1998

Unisex Swahili name rising in popularity. Musician Jelani Aryeh may be an influence.

More common than steamlined Tahj, thanks to actor Tahj Mowry, brother of Tia of Tamara.

Lexis is a condensation of Alexis, or the expression of a wish to drive a Lexus. Go with the longer form.

The ie ending injects this late 20th century favorite with a bit of late 19th century charm. But not quite enough to make it a good 21st century choice.

This Spanish spelling of Marquis is popular in its own right.

A confusing looking name—is it BRY-anna or BREE-anna? There are other feminine variants of Bryan/Brian which look less made up, such as Brianna and Breanna. We recommend looking into those choices to avoid pronunciation issues.

Caitlin, but with the popular -lynn suffix.

This spelling variation of unisex Casey leans farther to the girls' side. Kaycee ranked in the US Top 1000 in the late 80s and 90s, but has fallen out of favor now.

Kaitlynn seems to be trying too hard to make its pronunciation plain. At this point, everyone knows that the name however you spell it is pronounced like Kate plus Lynn, so why go all the way to Kaitlynn? This spelling has been stumbling down the charts since its peak in 1998 and may not be around much longer.

Probably an offshoot of Deanna, lacking much identity of its own.