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Baby Names 2016: The Most Unloved Names This Year

Well, these are surprising.
Baby in bed with fingers in mouth
Tara Moore via Getty Images
Baby in bed with fingers in mouth

With so many parents choosing creative names for their babies, it’s no wonder once-popular monikers are quickly falling out of fashion.

After BabyCentre UK analyzed their data for babies born in 2016, they found that names such as Diane and Malcolm were the most unloved names so far this year.

The site, which has three million members, based their findings on names that had not yet been registered, but were registered in 2015 and previously experienced high popularity. BabyCentre then compiled a list of monikers that were at risk of “dying out” in 2016.

Flip through the slideshow below to find out the top 20 most surprising names falling out of fashion. None of these monikers have yet been chosen by parents on BabyCentre in 2016:

Girl Names

Most Unloved Baby Names Of 2016


According to the site’s managing editor, Sarah Redshaw, it’s not surprising to see names rise and fall in popularity. However, “the question is will they die out completely, or experience a revival in the future?” she said.

“It may not seem the obvious option, but if new parents want to make sure their baby has a name that stands out from the crowd this year, they should look to names like Paula, Debra and Elaine that were popularity in the '60s, '70s and '80s for girls.

"For boys, names that peaked in popular as early as the turn of the last century – like Cyril, Horace and Bertram could be unique choices.”

This isn’t the first time parents were warned about certain baby names going extinct. In 2015, Nameberry released a set of 15 boy and girl names on the verge of dying out. Barbra, Claudine and Remus were just a few on the list.

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