Meanings & themes
Trailblazer names worth carrying
43 names · 35 girls · 8 boys · records through 2025
An honor name is the oldest reason to choose one, and this list gathers the American and international figures whose names are in genuine current use.
This guide has 43 names: 35 girl names and 8 boy names. A curated set of names of historical trailblazers and reformers matched against the latest US records; only names in real use appear. 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
Several here are having a documented revival: Ada, Harriet, Frida, Maya and Rosa are all substantially more common now than a generation ago.
Only names verified in current records appear, each with today's rank alongside.
Girl names
35 names
- Amelia#4 today
- Elizabeth#17 today
- Ella#29 today
- Grace#38 today
- Maya#62 today
- Clara#63 today
- Alice#65 today
- Margaret#112 today
- Mary#125 today
- Ruth#173 today
- Katherine#186 today
- Ada#219 today
- Jane#221 today
- Rachel#250 today
- Gwendolyn#360 today
- Florence#391 today
- Dorothy#421 today
- Edith#499 today
- Mae#500 today
- Marie#617 today
- Anne#619 today
- Rosa#652 today
- Emmeline#922 today
- Zora#968 today
- Barbara#968 today
- Ellen#1062 today
- Harriet#1071 today
- Susan#1085 today
- Ida#1120 today
- Sally#1150 today
- Althea#1299 today
- Rosalind#1518 today
- Yuri#1525 today
- Frida#1561 today
- Shirley#1581 today
Boy names
8 names
- Jesse#184 today
- Malcolm#272 today
- Martin#335 today
- Cesar#385 today
- Frederick#435 today
- Nelson#824 today
- Langston#999 today
- Booker#1159 today
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.
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