After being surpassed by Mia in 2024, Olivia was once again the most popular girl’s name in California in 2025, according to newly released data from the Social Security Administration. Liam is the state’s most popular boy’s name for the second year running and the third time in the last decade. Olivia and Liam are also the most popular baby names nationwide.
“Regional name trends tell stories about demographics,” said Sophie Kihm, a baby name expert and editor-in-chief of Namesberry. Kihm noted that names that work well across multiple cultures and languages – like Emma, Olivia and Liam – have started dominating the country’s top 10 lists in recent years.
Every year around Mother’s Day, the Social Security Administration releases the list of popular baby names for the past year. A name will make this list as long as it has at least five occurrences in the given year. The full national list dates back to 1879 and the top 100 names for boys and girls in each state are available as far back as 1960.
While many of the top baby names in California align with national trends, some are more uniquely popular in the Golden state. Santiago was 4th among boys in the state, but 26th nationwide. Juan and Nathaniel were also popular boys’ names for California, though only made the top 100 in two other states, Texas and Maryland.
Valentina was the 10th most popular girls name in California, but 35th in the U.S. Celine and Julieta were among California’s most popular names for girls but only New York and Arizona, respectively, also had them on their top lists.
Top girls’ names have been more stable over the last decade, while boys’ names have shown greater variation. Traditionally, boys’ names were often passed down within families, resulting in a prevalence of white, Anglo-sounding names, according to Kihm.
Each decade brings a slightly different set of popular names, both nationally and for California, though some names retain their popularity across decades. For three decades — throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s — Michael and Jennifer were the top boy and girl names for new babies.
Name popularity is influenced by pop culture trends, historical events and mixing of cultures. But some names stay consistent due to factors like religion.
Curious about how your own name has stacked up over the decades? Type any name in the interactive below to see how its national popularity has changed over the last hundred years.
Explore how your name changed over the last 100 yearsCreditsReporting, data, design and development by Hanna Zakharenko/San Francisco Chronicle. Data and design by Alexandra Kanik/Hearst Newspapers Devhub. Editing by Danielle Rindler/Hearst Newspapers Devhub, Janie Haseman/Hearst Newspapers Devhub and Dan Kopf/San Francisco Chronicle. 