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‘Noah’ The Most Popular Name For Baby Boys

Edged out biblical mainstay ‘Jacob’ after 14 years

by
Stephanie Butnick
May 09, 2014
Babies who may potentially be named Noah. (Shutterstock)
Babies who may potentially be named Noah. (Shutterstock)

While Darren Aronofsky’s blockbuster retelling of the biblical epic Noah may have fallen short of filmgoers’ expectations, it seems to have made a splash (get it!) elsewhere. For it takes a strong, determined name to break Jacob’s 14-year stranglehold on the title of most popular name for newborn boys.

The time has come, and the name is Noah. I’ll leave it to the scholars to discuss what this means in the grand scheme of biblical power struggles (or not, whatever). I’ll be here waiting for the floodgates to open on bar mitzvah season 2026, where the tables will feature cardboard cutouts of Russell Crowe and the tweens will pair off, two by two, as they play Coke and Pepsi, that ancient game of our suburban forefathers.

Also breaking the top ten for 2013 are Liam, Mason (thanks, Kardashians), William (as in, the non-nickname form of Liam), and Michael. Congrats, boys.

For girls, the top names this past year trended less biblical, and more pop cultural. Sophie took the top spot, with Emma, Olivia, and Isabella close on her trail. Still, there’s Abigail (#8) and Elizabeth (#10) in there to keep it Old school.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.