Baby Names Falling Out of Fashion

Every name has a life cycle, and the names on this page are on the downward side of it. They are still in use, but fewer parents are choosing them than before, and for some families that is exactly the appeal.

Some of these names rose with specific trends and are now easing off. Alexa has been affected by the voice assistant of the same name, and parents have noticed the association. Brantley, Gage and Gavin came in with a wave of surname-style boys' names, while Aubree, Maci, Makayla and Mckenzie reflect a period of creative spellings and vowel-heavy girls' names. King and Royalty belong to the regal word-name trend, which is shifting toward other styles.

Others are well-loved classics of their era. Alexis, Alyssa and Taylor were once very familiar, and Conner is a spelling of an Irish name that spread widely before easing off. Ermias, an Ethiopian and Eritrean form of a biblical prophet's name, has a distinct history of its own. A falling name is not a bad choice. It often means your child will share the name with fewer classmates, and a name that feels slightly out of fashion today may sound classic in a few decades. Consider whether you love the name for its own sake rather than for how current it feels.