Baby
Feminine · “English baby”
Baby is given to both — 6,107 girls and 6,374 boys since 1880. See Baby as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Baby appears in the American name records in numbers, and most of it is paperwork. Hospitals label a newborn Baby Girl with the family surname until a name is chosen, and when the form is filed unchanged, the placeholder becomes the name.
How old is the name Baby?
Baby first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Baby alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 5,500 people named Baby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Baby most popular?
Baby peaked in 1995, reaching #691 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,416 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Baby
Reading name data honestly means knowing which entries are decisions and which are defaults. Baby, Infant, Unknown, Girl and Boy all appear in the records, and they cluster in ways that a fashion would not: they track hospital administration and state filing practice rather than taste. That is worth stating plainly, because a name list is not a list of choices; it is a list of what got written down. At the same time the entry is not entirely artifact. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Baby is a real given name carried by adult women, common enough to appear in public life, and families who moved from there to the United States brought it with them. Both things are true, and neither cancels the other.
Meaning
English baby, an infant
In American records the entry is usually an artifact: hospital paperwork records an unnamed newborn as Baby, and some of those records are filed as given names. It is also a genuine given name in South Asia, where Baby is used as a formal name for women and appears on passports and degrees. The American peak is 1995.
Pronouncing Baby
BAY-bee
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is said exactly like the ordinary English word.
Nicknames for Baby
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 1994299 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #691reached in 1995
- Change vs 2023
- −71.9%9 in 2025, from 32
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Baby in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Babe in English — related form
- Baby in Hindi — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, Connecticut, Pennsylvania.
Babys among us
people named Baby are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Baby
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Susann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Baby's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Susann climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Susann's path sketches the road Baby is walking now.
Baby sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Baby beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Baby in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, universally understood and easy to spell.
- It is a genuine and respectable given name in South Asia.
- Two syllables with a soft, open sound.
- In English it is an ordinary noun and a term of address.
- Much of its appearance in the records is administrative rather than chosen.
- It does not age with the person carrying it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Baby to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Baby? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Baby
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Babys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,500 people named Baby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Baby in 2025?
- Baby ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Baby?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Baby — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Baby with classmates?
- Baby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Baby
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Baby? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Baby and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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