Baby name generator

Find a baby name you love by gender, culture and first letter, with the meaning and origin shown for every name.

Olaf
Ancestor's descendant (Old Norse). No. 13,369 in the US in 2025, 5 babies.
BoyScandinavian
Bronagh
Sorrowful (Irish Gaelic)
GirlIrish
Anjali
Offering with joined hands (Sanskrit). No. 2,652 in the US in 2025, 65 babies.
GirlIndianFalling
Callum
A dove (Latin). No. 118 in the US in 2025, 2,995 babies.
BoyEnglishRising
Juma
Born on Friday (Swahili). No. 7,407 in the US in 2025, 11 babies.
BoyAfrican
Joan
God is gracious (Hebrew). No. 987 in the US in 2025, 232 babies. Given to both: 49% girls.
BoySpanish
Charlie
Free man (Germanic). No. 133 in the US in 2025, 4,620 babies. Given to both: 47% girls.
UnisexEnglish
Jiyu
Wise and gentle (depends on hanja) (Korean). No. 13,967 in the US in 2025, 6 babies.
GirlKorean
Wren
Small songbird (Old English). No. 231 in the US in 2025, 1,331 babies. Given to both: 87% girls.
GirlEnglishRising
Remedios
Remedies (Latin)
GirlSpanish
Fausto
Lucky, fortunate (Latin). No. 3,466 in the US in 2025, 33 babies.
BoyItalian
Felicity
Happiness, good fortune (Latin). No. 473 in the US in 2025, 653 babies.
GirlEnglish

Baby name tools

Try a name with the middle name and surname, check the initials and what a US birth certificate may refuse, and find names that suit a big brother or sister.

The full name

FirstMiddleSurname

Theodore James Smith

Initials T.J.S. · 18 letters · rhythm 3-1-1 syllables

James ends with the sound Smith starts with, so the two run together

The initials check is about teasing, not luck: a 2005 study of California death records found no link between initials and lifespan.

On a US birth certificate

Checks the name in the first box, as each state's rules were reported.

No numerals, symbols or accents, and no part over 40 characters: the plainest kind of name for any state's system.
Rules change and differ by state, and Kentucky has no naming law at all, so check with your state's vital records office.

How common is it? Try how rare is my name.

A name for a sibling

Brothers and sistersNew baby

A different first letter

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How the baby name generator works

Names come from a curated database of real first names used in 24 cultures. Each one is stored with its gender, the cultures where parents use it, the language it comes from and its meaning. Only names with a well-established meaning are included, so you will not find made-up definitions here.

Use the filters to narrow things down: Girl, Boy, Unisex, or names given to girls and boys about equally; a culture such as Irish, Japanese or Arabic; a first letter; a meaning theme such as moon, strength or love; a length; and how popular the name is in the US. Popularity comes from the Social Security Administration's 2025 data, which counts each spelling separately and leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, so Uncommon also covers names too rare to be listed. The generator picks 12 names at random from everything that matches.

Each card shows the name's meaning and origin and, when it was given in the US in 2025, its rank, how many babies got it and, for names given to both, the share of girls: Avery was about 82% girls, Kai about 6%. Results are random rather than ranked, which makes the tool good for finding names you might not have considered. Below the generator, check a full name and its initials, see what a birth certificate may not accept, and find names that suit a big brother or sister.

That is Quick mode: instant and unlimited. For something more specific, switch to Custom mode, set a few options and add a sentence of details. An AI language model picks up to 10 real names from our database that fit, each with its meaning from our records and a note on why it fits, and More like this gives you variations on any name you like.

Popular baby names with meanings

Hand-picked by our editors. Copy one, or use them as a starting point.

Name	Meaning or note
Olivia	Girl. Latin; olive, used by Shakespeare in Twelfth Night
Amelia	Girl. Germanic; work, often read as industrious
Charlotte	Girl. French; feminine of Charles, from a Germanic word for man
Sophia	Girl. Greek; wisdom
Isabella	Girl. Hebrew via Spanish; form of Elizabeth, God is my oath
Luna	Girl. Latin; moon
Aurora	Girl. Latin; dawn, after the Roman goddess of morning
Hazel	Girl. English; named for the nut tree
Violet	Girl. Latin; the purple flower
Chloe	Girl. Greek; green shoot
Stella	Girl. Latin; star
Iris	Girl. Greek; rainbow
Naomi	Girl. Hebrew; pleasantness
Ivy	Girl. English; the evergreen climbing plant
Zoe	Girl. Greek; life
Lucy	Girl. Latin; light
Ruby	Girl. Latin; red, after the gemstone
Freya	Girl. Norse; lady, after the goddess
Hannah	Girl. Hebrew; grace, favor
Matilda	Girl. Germanic; mighty in battle
Amara	Girl. Igbo; grace
Aaliyah	Girl. Arabic; exalted, high
Layla	Girl. Arabic; night
Leilani	Girl. Hawaiian; heavenly flower
Priya	Girl. Sanskrit; beloved
Nadia	Girl. Slavic; hope
Liam	Boy. Irish; short form of a Germanic name meaning resolute protector
Noah	Boy. Hebrew; rest, comfort
Oliver	Boy. Latin via French; linked to the olive tree
James	Boy. Hebrew via Latin; form of Jacob, supplanter
Elijah	Boy. Hebrew; my God is Yahweh
Theodore	Boy. Greek; gift of God
Henry	Boy. Germanic; ruler of the home
Leo	Boy. Latin; lion
Ezra	Boy. Hebrew; help
Sebastian	Boy. Greek; venerable, revered
Felix	Boy. Latin; lucky, happy
Jasper	Boy. Persian; treasurer, one of the three wise men
Samuel	Boy. Hebrew; God has heard
Silas	Boy. Latin; from Silvanus, of the forest
Matteo	Boy. Italian; gift of God
Rohan	Boy. Sanskrit; ascending
Kai	Boy. Hawaiian; sea, also given to girls
Omar	Boy. Arabic; life, long-lived
Hugo	Boy. Germanic; mind, heart
River	Unisex. English; a flowing body of water
Rowan	Unisex. Irish; little redhead, also the mountain ash tree
Avery	Unisex. Norman French; from Alfred, elf counsel
Sage	Unisex. Latin; wise
Eden	Unisex. Hebrew; delight

Tips for choosing a good name

Say it with the last name

Read the first and last name together several times. Watch for names that run together, such as a first name ending in the sound the surname starts with.

Check the initials and nicknames

Write out the initials and think about the short forms people will use. Theodore becomes Theo or Teddy; make sure you like both. The check below flags initials that spell a word, to spare teasing; studies found no link between initials and how long people live.

Look up the meaning in every culture

Some names mean different things in different languages. The meaning shown here is the accepted origin; a quick check in your family's languages avoids surprises.

Live with it for a week

Use your shortlist out loud for a few days. The name you keep coming back to is usually the one.

America's top baby names in 2025

By The Nomezo Editors · Updated October 22, 2026 · How we research names

Olivia and Liam topped the Social Security list for the seventh year running, from about 3.6 million babies born in 2025. The fastest risers were Kasai, up 1,108 places, and Klarity, up 1,396. The share of all girls or boys given each name, from Behind the Name's copy of the list:

The most popular US baby names in 2025, with their share of births
Rank	Girls	Share	Boys	Share
1	Olivia	0.77%	Liam	1.13%
2	Charlotte	0.76%	Noah	1.11%
3	Emma	0.73%	Oliver	0.81%
4	Amelia	0.72%	Theodore	0.73%
5	Sophia	0.71%	Henry	0.65%
6	Mia	0.63%	James	0.65%
7	Isabella	0.61%	Elijah	0.61%
8	Evelyn	0.52%	Mateo	0.60%
9	Sofia	0.47%	William	0.57%
10	Eliana	0.47%	Lucas	0.56%

How the US list counts names

The Social Security files come from every application for a baby's Social Security card since 1880. Three habits shape what you see: each spelling is its own name, so Sophia (5th) and Sofia (9th) are ranked apart; the files are written without accents; and names given to fewer than 5 babies are left out. In our count of the 2025 file there are 28,638 different spellings, against 9,281 in 1950, and the top 1,000 names cover 73.6% of girls and 81.2% of boys, so roughly one girl in four has a name outside it.

Names are also spread more thinly than ever. In 1950 a quarter of girls and a third of boys had a top-ten name; in 2025 it was 7% of girls and 8% of boys. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon explain the churn by parents wanting a name that both fits in and stands out. Names are getting shorter too: the average fell from 6.07 letters in 2000 to 5.79 in 2025.

Unisex names, and how they really split

Most names called unisex lean one way. In our count of the 2025 files, names where at least 5% of babies were the other sex made up 13.5% of babies, down from a peak of 15.1% in 2022. How some favourites split:

How unisex baby names split between girls and boys in the US in 2025
Name	Girls	Boys	Share of girls
Eden	3,362	551	86%
Avery	5,267	1,156	82%
Quinn	2,634	663	80%
Riley	4,441	1,666	73%
Emerson	2,241	1,371	62%
Tatum	1,661	1,736	49%
Dakota	1,035	1,074	49%
Charlie	2,160	2,460	47%
Parker	2,536	3,477	42%
River	1,401	3,139	31%
Rowan	1,240	5,212	19%
Kai	234	3,768	6%

What a birth certificate allows

US naming rules vary by state and are mostly practical: some states cap the number of characters, some refuse numerals or pictograms, a few refuse obscenities, and Kentucky has no naming law at all. A 2011 law review survey found Massachusetts capping each name at 40 characters because of its software, New Hampshire allowing only an apostrophe or a hyphen, Illinois barring a numeral as the first character and Texas allowing Roman-numeral suffixes such as III.

Accents are the big divide. California, citing its 1986 English-language proposition, has refused accents, so parents could not register Nicolás Agustín; a 2025 law will record them starting two years after it is funded. Texas has recorded accents, tildes and umlauts on records issued since 2019. Rules change, so check with your state's vital records office.

Initials are about teasing, not fate: a 1999 study claimed men with "positive" initials lived longer, but a 2005 study of California death records found no difference.

How to choose a baby name

1
Set the filters
Pick a gender, a culture or a meaning, and how popular you want the name to be.
2
Read the numbers
Each card shows the 2025 US rank and count, so you know whether your child will share the name with classmates.
3
Try the full name
Say it with the middle name and surname, and check that the initials spell nothing awkward.
4
Check the paperwork
Numerals, symbols and accents are refused in some states; ask your state's vital records office.
5
Live with it
Use the shortlist out loud for a week. The name you keep coming back to is usually the one.

Next: the middle name generator and names by meaning.

Sources

AP via WTOP: Olivia and Liam top the 2025 list: the 2025 top names, the risers and 3.6 million births
Behind the Name: United States, 2025: shares of births; spellings not combined
Social Security Administration: national baby names (data.gov): the files our counts come from: 1880 to 2025, from card applications
Carnegie Mellon: Golman et al. on name popularity (2021): fitting in and standing out
Wikipedia: Naming law (United States): length caps, numerals, obscenities, Kentucky
Larson (2011), Naming Baby, 80 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 159: state rules in California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey
KQED: no accent marks on California birth certificates (2017): Proposition 63 and Nicolás Agustín
California AB 64 (2025): accents on vital records once funded
Texas Health & Safety Code § 191.009: accents on vital records since 2019
Newswise: Do bad monograms spell RIP? (2005): no link between initials and lifespan

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a baby name?

Start with a shortlist by gender, culture and favorite letters, then check each name's meaning, how it sounds with your last name and the nicknames it invites. Saying names aloud for a few days usually narrows the list.

What are unique baby names with meanings?

Aurora (dawn), Silas (of the forest), Leilani (heavenly flower), Ezra (help) and Amara (grace) are less common in many places but easy to say. Pick a culture above to discover more.

What are the most popular baby names right now?

In 2025, the latest US data released in May 2026, Olivia and Liam were No. 1 for the seventh year in a row, followed by Charlotte and Emma for girls and Noah and Oliver for boys. This generator shows names at random, so you will see popular and rare names side by side.

Can I find baby names that start with a certain letter?

Yes. Use the Starts with menu to pick a letter from A to Z, and combine it with gender and culture to narrow the list.

What is a unisex baby name?

A name given to both girls and boys, such as River, Rowan, Avery and Sage, though most lean one way: in 2025 Avery was about 82% girls and Kai about 6%. Names like Tatum, Dakota and Charlie were close to even. Choose Unisex, given evenly, to see only those.

Are there rules on what you can name a baby in the US?

It depends on the state. Some cap the length of a name, some refuse numerals or symbols, and a few refuse obscenities, while Kentucky has no naming law at all. California has not accepted accents such as the one in Lucía, though a 2025 law will change that once it is funded; Texas has recorded accents since 2019. Check with your state's vital records office.

Are baby names getting shorter?

Yes, slightly. In US Social Security data the average name given to a baby fell from 6.07 letters in 2000 to 5.79 in 2025, and names of three or four letters rose from about 12% of babies in 1990 to almost 19%. Six letters is still the most common length.

How many babies got the top name in 2025?

In the Social Security files, 20,818 boys were named Liam and 13,544 girls Olivia, about 1 in 88 boys and 1 in 130 girls. Charlotte was just 144 girls behind Olivia.

Does the US list count Sophia and Sofia together?

No. Social Security counts every spelling as its own name, so in 2025 Sophia was 5th and Sofia 9th. Its files have no accents either, and names given to fewer than 5 babies are left out.

Are gender-neutral names getting more popular?

They were. Counting names where at least 5% of babies were the other sex, their share rose from 11.7% of babies in 2014 to 15.1% in 2022, then fell to 13.5% in 2025, in our count of the Social Security files.

Do bad initials affect a child's life?

Not their lifespan: a 2005 study of California death records found no difference, overturning a 1999 claim. Initials that spell a word can still invite teasing, which is why the check above flags them.

What is Custom mode?

Custom mode lets you set a few options and add a sentence of details, such as a surname or sibling names. An AI language model then picks up to 10 real names from our database that fit, each with its meaning from our records and a note on why it fits, and you can ask for more like any name you like.

Does the AI make up names or meanings in Custom mode?

No. The AI can only choose from the real names in our database, and every meaning shown comes from our own records. It adds a short note on why each name fits what you asked for.