Pop culture and society often determine what baby names rise in popularity — but do politics affect name trends? History shows that some presidential first names peak in popularity when the man attached to the name enters the Oval Office. Their family members’ names might also spike in popularity on baby name lists. And this year with a female candidate in the mix, a woman’s name has the possibility to rise.
Will the popularity of baby names like Joe, Nikki or Donald be affected in 2024 — a presidential election year? Here’s what history has shown.
Popular presidential baby names
For many years, presidents’ first names often reached their peak in popularity in the year the president assumed office. On the Social Security Administration’s list of most popular baby names, the name Woodrow reached its peak popularity in 1913, the same year President Woodrow Wilson assumed office.
This name trend holds strong through several presidencies: Warren peaked in 1921 when Warren G. Harding assumed office; Herbert reached its peak in 1928 and 1929, the years Herbert Hoover won the election and assumed the presidency; Franklin peaked in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office.
Dwight — as in President Dwight D. Eisenhower — peaked in 1953, the year he assumed office.
Calvin Coolidge became president in August 1923, when more than half the year was over. So, his name, Calvin, peaked in 1924, when the babies conceived after he became president were born.
Baby names tend to follow a 100-year rule, meaning some names cycle back to popularity after about a century. “Once it becomes their great-grandparents’ generation and they probably didn’t know the people of that generation themselves, then it can start to seem cool and retro [to parents] because they don’t associate it with gray hair and wrinkles,” Dr. Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor and author of books on baby names, told CBS News in 2021.
The name Theodore was at spot 43 out of 1,000 in 1901 when President Theodore Roosevelt assumed office. But the name came back around and reached its peak more than 100 years later — in 2021 when it reached the No. 10 spot.
Classic baby names
Many presidents have had classic names — John, George, William, Donald — that have been on the top 1,000 list for decades and peaked before these men were born.
John was already ultra popular in the 1940s and 1950s, hovering around the third and fourth spots. But the name’s popularity started waning in the late 50s when it dropped to the No. 5 spot.
When John F. Kennedy Jr. was elected president in 1960, the name John moved into the fourth spot again. When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, the name moved into the No. 2 spot and stayed there until 1965. The name saw its highest number of births in 1965, with 71,519 babies named John born in the U.S.
Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, became president immediately after JFK’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. Continuing the trend, the name Lyndon peaked in 1964, reaching the 347th spot on the top 1,000 list.
Names associated with presidents
The name Hillary was most popular in 1992 — the year Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, was elected president — peaking at 132 on SSA’s top 1,000 list.
She went on to serve as first lady for two terms then became a senator and secretary of state, while the name’s popularity slowly fell down the ranks. But in 2008, when she ran for president, it briefly spiked again rising from the 961st spot to 722 before falling off the list of top 1,000 names.
Former President George W. Bush’s daughter, Jenna, was born in 1981. But her name peaked at the 45th spot in 2001 — the year her dad assumed office. It has steadily declined in popularity since then but was still in the top 1,000 as of 2022, in spot 635.
Similarly, the name Malia, the name of former President Barack Obama’s eldest daughter, saw its peak in 2009, the year he took office. Her younger sister’s name, Sasha, saw a similar spike that year, rising from the 361st spot in 2008 to 262 in 2009. But Sasha’s peak was in 1988 at 147.
2024 presidential candidate names
Former President Donald Trump, who is the 2024 Republican front-runner, has a first name that peaked in popularity in 1934, according to SSA. In 2022, Donald was in the 676th spot.
The name sits at No. 601 on BabyCenter, which uses data from parents on the popularity of baby names. Donald means “world ruler,” according to its Gaelic origins, a primitive Irish language still spoken in parts of Scotland, from the name Domhnall.
Joseph — like President Joe Biden who is running for his second term — is a name whose popularity peaked in 1917, according to SSA. The name has been in the top 20 names for the majority of years since then but dropped to number 30 in 2022.
According to BabyCenter, the name — rooted in the Hebrew name Yosef, meaning “God shall add,” according to several baby name websites — ranks at No. 56 on its list.
Nikki — the name of Republican candidate Nikki Haley — peaked in 1972 on the SSA list. That happens to be the year Haley, whose full name is Nimarata Nikki Haley, was born. The name Nikki ranks at 2,405 in popularity with parents on BabyCenter. It fell off the SSA’s top 1,000 list in 2005.
