American parents often play it safe when it comes to choosing the moniker that their child will endure for the rest of their life, according to the just-released list of the 1,000 most popular baby names in 2025 from the U.S. Social Security Administration.
The top 10 girls’ and boys’ names have barely shifted in the past decade: Olivia has been the number one choice for girls since 2019, while Liam has reigned champion on the boys’ list since 2017. But there is one perhaps surprising contender that just quietly crept into the top 10 ranking last year: Eliana.
The pretty name — if this author called Ellie may say so herself — means “my God has answered” in Hebrew and is sometimes used in the Jewish community to represent gratitude for a long-awaited child. The name outpaced Ava, thought to be derived from the Old Germanic name Avo or Avia, which featured in the SSA’s top 10 as a staple name for more than two decades, before being kicked back into 11th spot last year.
In just a year, Eliana climbed from 18th place to 10th, which, in the baby name community, is a big deal. Eliana was the 10th most popular name on Social Security card applications submitted at birth in 2025, behind Sofia, Evelyn, Isabel, Mia, Sophia, Amelia, Emma, Charlotte and Olivia.
Colleen Slagen, a Boston-based baby name consultant who posts on social media under @namingbebe, says that Eliana’s growth makes sense because names beginning in “El” are having a moment. “It’s a sound that people are drawn to and lends itself to nicknames like Ella, Ellie and Elle, which are all very popular names,” she says. “People like the sound of a feminine yet professional name in Eliana, but having the option of a more casual, friendly nickname.”
Slagen points out that other traditional El-names, like Eleanor, Eloise, and more obscure monikers, like the Celtic name Elowyn (which Slagen says sounds “like a Lord of the Rings Character”), are also becoming more popular. In short, “El” names are everywhere.
Jenn Ficarra, a baby name consultant based in Los Angeles who posts on the account @nomdebloomnaming, says the name may also be chosen because it sounds like an elevated (and less basic) version of the extremely popular Ellie and Eleanor. “People often think they have found a unique name that no one else is using, but it sounds similar to the names they already love and are popular,” says Ficarra. “And so slowly over time, those names catch on, and then you realize how many people are actually using it and that they gravitated toward it for all the same reasons as you.”
Ficarra tells me that Eliana’s popularity can also be attributed to some parents decidedly rejecting gender neutral names. Eliana is elegant, ultra-feminine and has a pleasing sonic rhythm when spoken.
“Some people prefer to gravitate towards names that feel more overly feminine,” Ficarra explains. “Names ending with ‘Ana’, like Juliana or Liana, are really popular because they denote this kind of femininity… All of those factors in conjunction with each other, I think, provide the perfect sort of storm for a name to really latch on.”
Often, popular baby names are inspired by movies, celebrities and the general zeitgeist (after Game of Thrones came out, Khaleesi landed on the baby name charts), but Eliana is basically nowhere in popular culture. Sure, the name belongs to Brazilian TV host Eliana Michaelichen Bezerra (known mononymously as Eliana). There’s also 28-year-old Canadian actor Eliana Jones, known for roles in Nighthunter and Acapulco and American dancer Eliana Girard, who won the ninth season of So You Think You Can Dance — but we haven’t seen the name printed across Hollywood billboards just yet.
The origins of Eliana are poignant, especially in the Jewish community, where it is often used to name a child after the parents experienced difficulties conceiving. “This is the name of my rainbow baby,” one parent told the Jewish blog Kveller in an article about the importance of the name. “She really is a gift and the answer to our prayers.” Another reader, called Eliana, said they loved their name because being called “‘God has answered me’ after my parents struggled to have me, feels sacred.”
The name has been widely embraced outside of the Jewish community, too. That’s in part because of parents’ desire to have more “wordly” sounding names, says Slagen. Eliana works well across multiple languages, which is something that parents are increasingly looking for in a multicultural society. The name has been embraced in the Latino community in the U.S., which continues to account for roughly 25 per cent of population growth in the country, says Ficarra. The name also has roots in French and Greek, where it means “sun.”
“We’ve seen Matteo make its way to the top 10 on the boys’ side because it is international and feels worldly… it has a broad appeal and it’s versatile,” says Slagen. “People are willing to get more creative with names, and we’re seeing more names brought in from other languages and ethnicities and backgrounds.”
While the SSA’s data seems to suggest a homogeneity behind names like Olivia and Liam, Slagen warns that the top 10 names aren’t as culturally ubiquitous as they once were. Last year, there were 13,544 babies named Olivia, which represents just 0.770 percent of total girl births in 2025. Parents are picking from a wider pool of names than ever before.
“In 1990, Jessica was the most popular name, and there were probably three Jessicas in every class,” explains Slagen. “Now there’s probably multiple Olivias at a school, but necessarily in one class.” People are having more fun picking names, then. “They’re sort of diverging from norms and traditions that our parents were following.”
So, will Eliana stand the test of time in the SSA’s top 10, like Olivia? Slagen is skeptical about its longevity on the list. She points out that names such as Luna and Harper had short-lived stints in the top 10 ranking in recent years but have dropped off.
“Sometimes when these names that surprise us in the top 10, it can have a rebound effect on parents, who think it’s got too much attention and think, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was so popular,’” says Slagen. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it falls again.”
Ficarra, meanwhile, is more optimistic. “The name Eliana went from 18th place to 10th in one year, I imagine it’ll stay at the top 10… but I am curious about what will eventually replace it.”
