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Top Baby Names 2015: The Most Popular Are Not Surprising At All

However, the fastest-rising baby names revealed some diverse choices.

The stats are in. The most popular baby names in America are Emma and Noah.

On Friday, U.S. Social Security Administration released data revealing the top monikers of 2015. Emma now holds the number one spot for the second year in a row, and Noah for the third.

In Canada, the top baby names of 2015 were Emma and Liam, according to data from BabyCenter Canada. These names were followed by Olivia and Jackson.

The country’s top names are not as adventurous as we’d expect, considering the growing trend of creative and invented baby names. In fact, the top 10 lists for boys and girls have barely changed compared to previous years, Today.com reports.

Specifically, the top six names for boys and the top three names for girls are in the exact same order as they were in 2014. Check out the full top 10 lists below.

Top Girl Name

Top U.S. Baby Names Of 2015


In 2015, there were only two new additions to the list: Benjamin and Harper. These names replaced Daniel and Madison from the previous year.

Benjamin is a biblical name like Noah, whereas Harper is a name from pop culture, similar to Emma.

According to Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin, “the names that are popular now are influenced by pop culture, video games, movies, celebrities, along with religion and family.”

Emma has remained consistently popular over the years thanks to its historical roots, pop culture and literary references. There are also a slew of hot young stars who share this name, such as Emma Watson and Emma Stone.

Noah, on the other hand, has biblical roots. Its popularity was also likely spiked by a number of famous parents who chose this moniker for their sons. Megan Fox and Michael Bublé both have boys named Noah, and Billy Ray Cyrus has a daughter with the same name.

Based on its data, U.S. Social Security Administration also determined the fastest-rising baby names of 2015, which were surprisingly diverse: Alaia and Riaan.

Alaia (pronounced ah-LYE-ah) jumped over 2,000 spots to number 664 for girls. The name is cross-cultural and has various spellings, origins and meanings. Alaia is Basque for “happy,” Aaliyah is Arabic for “heavens,” and Alaya is Sanskrit for “house.”

Similarly, Riaan rose over 1,000 spots to number 926. This boys’ name is Hindi for “little king” and is a variation of the Irish name Ryan.

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