The latest trends in baby names: Traditional names fall off the radar as short and sweet options take the lead

Traditional baby names are increasingly losing their charm, including a once-cherished royal name that has seen a recent decline in preference. Meanwhile, shorter names are gaining popularity among new parents.

The McCrindle Baby Name report for 2024 has shown parents of Gen Alpha are opting for shorter versions of traditional names, such as Harry instead of Harrison, Theo over Theodore and Charlie from Charles. The boy’s name Charles was once one of the most popular names in 90s and 2000s but has now dropped to spot 99 in the 100 list.

Parents are also opting for one, two and three syllable names with Oliver, Noah, Henry, Leo and Theodore topping the top 5 spots for boys, while names ending in with “a” remained popular with Isla, Amelia, Charlotte, Olivia and Mia rounding out the top 5 for girls’ names.

Names featuring either “i” or “y” and in particular, names ending in “ie” are pushing ahead in the Girl’s top 100 list, with names like, Millie, Billie and Lottie also proving popular.

New parents were also inspired by flora and wildlife, choosing names such as Ivy, Willow and Summer.

Ashley Fell, director of advisory at McCrindle, noted that naming trends are changing so rapidly that the company decided to review the names that have seen the greatest decline in popularity over the past decade.

“In the last year, we’ve seen names like Connor and Charles, for the boys, lose their popularity with significant rank decreases in the top 100 list, and Eden and Claire for the girls,” she told news.com.au.

“When looking at names which have decreased their popularity over the last decade however, we found some names which were in the top 20 are now closer to 100 or almost falling off the list.

“Names such as Joshua, Matthew and Luke for the boys – names which were particularly popular in the ’90s and early 2000s, are losing their popularity for parents to Gen Alpha.

“And names like Emily and Claire, which were also popular among parents to Gen Z and Gen Y babies, are losing their popularity with today’s parents.”

The current top 10 names for Girls and Boys are:

Girls’ baby names:

1: Isla

2: Amelia

3: Charlotte

4: Olivia

5: Mia

6: Ava

7: Matilda

8: Harper

9: Lily

10: Hazel