Eras & decades
Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
100 names · 50 girls · 50 boys · records through 2025
Emily, Madison, Emma, Hannah and Olivia lead the girls; the boys are led by Jacob, who took #1 in 1999 and kept it for fourteen years — the longest run of the modern era.
This guide has 100 names: 50 girl names and 50 boy names. Names ranked in the national top-100 in any year from 1997 to 2012. The total beside each name counts the births of the years it made that top 100 — a name ranked lower in a given year contributes nothing for it. Built from US Social Security birth records through 2025. Tap + beside any name to keep it on your shortlist as you read.
Before the names
Gen Z is the first generation in the records where no single name reaches the share the old #1s held. The chart is wider and flatter, and the totals below show it: the leaders are large, but nothing like Mary or Michael in their prime.
Several names here are back in the current top ten — Olivia, Emma and Isabella among them — which makes this list unusual: part of it is a nostalgia read and part of it is a live chart.
Girl names
50 names
- Emily344k in its top-100 years
- Madison281k in its top-100 years
- Emma269k in its top-100 years
- Hannah240k in its top-100 years
- Olivia239k in its top-100 years
- Abigail224k in its top-100 years
- Isabella220k in its top-100 years
- Samantha216k in its top-100 years
- Elizabeth210k in its top-100 years
- Ashley208k in its top-100 years
- Alexis207k in its top-100 years
- Sarah201k in its top-100 years
- Sophia197k in its top-100 years
- Alyssa173k in its top-100 years
- Taylor172k in its top-100 years
- Grace153k in its top-100 years
- Brianna152k in its top-100 years
- Jessica149k in its top-100 years
- Lauren149k in its top-100 years
- Kayla148k in its top-100 years
- Ava147k in its top-100 years
- Natalie143k in its top-100 years
- Victoria141k in its top-100 years
- Chloe138k in its top-100 years
- Anna134k in its top-100 years
- Mia118k in its top-100 years
- Jasmine116k in its top-100 years
- Hailey115k in its top-100 years
- Sydney114k in its top-100 years
- Morgan112k in its top-100 years
- Rachel109k in its top-100 years
- Julia108k in its top-100 years
- Megan104k in its top-100 years
- Katherine102k in its top-100 years
- Destiny101k in its top-100 years
- Savannah101k in its top-100 years
- Allison99k in its top-100 years
- Alexandra98k in its top-100 years
- Kaitlyn96k in its top-100 years
- Jennifer94k in its top-100 years
- Ella93k in its top-100 years
- Maria85k in its top-100 years
- Kaylee83k in its top-100 years
- Brooke81k in its top-100 years
- Mackenzie81k in its top-100 years
- Nicole79k in its top-100 years
- Makayla78k in its top-100 years
- Kimberly77k in its top-100 years
- Haley76k in its top-100 years
- Andrea75k in its top-100 years
Boy names
50 names
- Jacob441k in its top-100 years
- Michael409k in its top-100 years
- Joshua358k in its top-100 years
- Matthew357k in its top-100 years
- Christopher324k in its top-100 years
- Daniel319k in its top-100 years
- Andrew316k in its top-100 years
- William307k in its top-100 years
- Joseph304k in its top-100 years
- Anthony294k in its top-100 years
- Ethan284k in its top-100 years
- David283k in its top-100 years
- Nicholas283k in its top-100 years
- Alexander279k in its top-100 years
- Ryan269k in its top-100 years
- Tyler264k in its top-100 years
- James262k in its top-100 years
- John257k in its top-100 years
- Brandon237k in its top-100 years
- Noah232k in its top-100 years
- Jonathan229k in its top-100 years
- Christian218k in its top-100 years
- Zachary218k in its top-100 years
- Benjamin216k in its top-100 years
- Samuel216k in its top-100 years
- Dylan214k in its top-100 years
- Austin203k in its top-100 years
- Nathan202k in its top-100 years
- Logan200k in its top-100 years
- Justin199k in its top-100 years
- Gabriel178k in its top-100 years
- Robert175k in its top-100 years
- Jose173k in its top-100 years
- Elijah170k in its top-100 years
- Kevin169k in its top-100 years
- Jordan168k in its top-100 years
- Caleb167k in its top-100 years
- Thomas162k in its top-100 years
- Mason158k in its top-100 years
- Cameron150k in its top-100 years
- Hunter149k in its top-100 years
- Aaron141k in its top-100 years
- Jackson140k in its top-100 years
- Jack139k in its top-100 years
- Isaiah138k in its top-100 years
- Evan137k in its top-100 years
- Isaac137k in its top-100 years
- Jason134k in its top-100 years
- Luke133k in its top-100 years
- Angel132k in its top-100 years
Every rank and count here is published by the US Social Security Administration and refreshed each year when the new figures land. The method is stated at the top of this page.
Two of these will end up on your shortlist
Reading a list is the easy part. Put these names in front of the person you have to agree with.
Free · everyone you invite plays in one tap, no account
Keep reading
Lists built the same way