Babyberries: Class of 2024!
As we near the end of 2024, it's time for our annual recap of Nameberry's newest arrivals!
Birth announcements for 64 new Babyberries – 41 girls and 23 boys – were featured on our forums over the past year. The warmest of welcomes to all of our littlest members!
Berry parents have always put endless thought and creativity into their children's names, and the selections this year strongly reflect this. There were 86 unique girl names used by Nameberry parents in 2024, as well as 44 unique boy names.
Nameberry trends have historically reflected and even predicted the direction of name trends in the US — Top Nameberry names such as Arlo and August, Maeve and Ophelia, are all up and coming quite quickly in the US charts. This makes yearly recaps like this one all the more exciting for us name nerds, as it gives us a glimpse of what may be the next big name hits.
Top Girl Names
The most popular girl names among Berry parents this year were Elizabeth and Violet, both used for 3 different Babyberries as a first or middle name. Runners-up included Clara, Josephine, and June, each given to two baby girls. These sweet classics are well-loved not only amongst Berries but in the US and UK popularity charts as well.
The most common first initial for Babyberry girls was the letter A, worn by 6 Babyberries: Adah, Alberta, Aria, Arwen, Audrey, and Augusta.
Berry parents particularly loved longer, extravagant names for their daughters this year, with features such as Marcella, Leonora, Persephone, Imogene, and Serafina.
Two Berries went the extra mile to devise their own unique baby name creations by mixing and matching honor names: Lynevra and Ivalene. We are seeing this widespread trend — which we have coined Fast Fashion Names — as parents piece together familiar sounds to make new and personalized inventions.
While traditional first names held strong, we saw a variety of fun and quirky middle names this year, including Plum, Bronte, Anouk, Capri, and Bridie.
The chic and sophisticated "een" ending sound made numerous appearances for both first and middle names, including Helene, Selene, Josephine, Delphine, Imogene, and Ivalene. While the softer "lyn" sound has dominated the last few decades, this French-inspired alternative feels more distinct and interesting today.
Other intriguing first names for girls included boyish Charleston, international Fenna, nature-inspired Maple, literary invention Olenna, and mythological Clio.
Many of the names picked by Nameberry parents have never been featured before in the 700+ birth announcements featured on Nameberry. These truly unique names included Adah, Bridie, Bronte, Catalina, Charleston, Debra, Ivalene, Lynevra, Maret, Olenna, and Selene.
Top Boy Names
The top boy name in 2024 was classic William, given to 3 Babyberry boys as a first or middle name. Arthur, Hugo, John, and Lewis were each used for 2 boys this year.
The most common first initial on the boys' side was R, with Babyberry boys named Rafferty, Remy, Renwick, and Ridge.
While Berries appreciated last names as first names for their baby boys, they looked beyond the obvious contenders like Sawyer and Brooks to find gems such as Renwick, Watson, Meyer, and Rafferty.
Other standout first names included distinguished Peregrine, Biblical Zebedee, vintage Basil, Spanish Santiago, and Gaelic Angus.
Truly unique choices never used before in a Nameberry birth announcement include Conan, Harmon, Johan, Meyer, Renwick, Ridge, Watson, Zebedee, and Zebulun.
Newest Arrivals
To finish off the year, we of course need to celebrate the last few Babyberries to enter the world in 2024 this fall.
Please welcome the last of the class of 2024!
To read more about these choices – or to share your own child’s naming story for inclusion in our next Babyberry blog post – head over to our birth announcements forum.
Girl Names
Eliza Vivian, twin of Henry Julian
Ivalene Patricia Caroline "Iva", sister to Connor, Emmett, Ernest, Wilhelmina "Willa", and Caspar
"I admittedly made up her first name, but it’s the perfect smoosh name to honor my great and great great grandmothers, Iva and Arlene. Patricia and Caroline honor my grandma and mother-in-law. I’ve been surprised how warm the reactions to her name have been."
Josephine Violet
Penelope James "PJ"
"We thought she might go by Penny or Nell, but she’s just such a PJ!"
Violet Clara, sister to Georgia Lucy and Eloise Anne
Boy Names
Asa Tobias Cole
"We came across the name Asa around halfway through my pregnancy. I was on a journey of preparing for another homebirth after cesarean when we learned that the name Asa means “healer”. Each birthing journey I’ve been blessed to experience has come with a profound healing impact on my personal mothering journey. Knowing this was to be our last baby and how healing his pregnancy had already felt to us, it felt like a perfectly fitting name for our baby boy to come."
Basil Colin
"Basil was chosen because we just love it. It also happens to fit the criteria of what we were looking for in a name - unusual but known, easy to spell/one spelling, no immediate/automatic nicknames, we also do quite like the plant. Colin is after my late paternal grandfather, I’m honestly surprised I’m the first of the grandchildren to use it! He was loving and absolutely beloved. It was a source of deep joy for him that he had a big family, he would be so pleased to have a great-grandchild named in his honour."
Casper Johan
"Casper is a name I love, has a Christmas theme due to the Three Magi, and its meaning “bringer of treasure” encapsulates the happiness he has brought into my family’s life. His grandpa has a chronic illness and I set out to be a single mom by choice hoping to give my dad lots of time with his future grandchild. That wish came true and it’s beautiful to watch them together. Johan, baby’s middle name is the Scandinavian version of John, his grandpa’s name. The origin ties into our family as well as the lineage of his donor parent."
Henry Julian, twin of Eliza Vivian
Ridge Anthony, brother to Rosemary Kay
"We had long loved the name Otto but for some reason, we just couldn’t commit yet also couldn’t come up with an alternative. Around 36 weeks, my sister-in-law suggested Ridge and we instantly loved it. We went to the hospital with those two names. Still gridlocked 24 hours after he was born, we FaceTimed his big sister to ask her opinion. Without hesitation, she named him Ridge! Anthony is my husband’s middle name."
Huge congratulations to all of the 2024 parents, and here’s to many more beautifully named Babyberries in 2025!
If you’d like your child’s name to be featured in our next Babyberry blog post, tell us the name you chose and the story behind it over on our birth announcements forum.