Brittany to Ivy: how baby names got long, then short

In 1989 more than one American girl in five was given a name of eight letters or more. Brittany, Samantha, Jennifer, Stephanie and Elizabeth were all in the top ten. Only one girl in 13 had a name of four letters or fewer.

The average American girl's name that year was 6.42 letters long. That is the longest of any year in our records, which go back to 1880, and a full letter longer than in 1881. Since 1989 names have been getting shorter. In England and Wales they are shorter still: one baby in four now has a name of four letters or fewer.

How we counted

We counted the letters in each name as it is spelled, and gave every baby one vote. So the average for a year is the average over babies, not over names, and a name given to 20,000 girls counts 20,000 times. Hyphens are not letters, so a double name like Ivy-Rose counts as seven.

For America from 1880 to 2008 we used the official top 1,000 names for each year, which cover between two thirds and 96% of babies, depending on the year. From 1990 we also hold the full American files, which list every name given to five or more babies, and the two agree closely where they overlap. For England and Wales we used the ONS files for 2025 and 2024. Boys and girls are counted separately, straight from the files.

A full letter longer in a hundred years

In 1880 almost a third of American girls had a name of four letters or fewer. Mary alone was given to one girl in 14, and Anna, Emma, Ida, Ella and Cora were all in the top 15. Only one girl in nine had a name of eight letters or more.

Then the short names slowly gave way. They were ahead of the long ones every year until 1949. The two met around 1950, and from 1968 the long names led every year in the series. By 1989 the long names had 22.6% of girls and the short ones 7.8%. The short names hit their lowest, 7.3%, in 1994.

Girls' names used to be shorter than boys' names. They were every year until 1906, and they have been longer every year since 1907.

Boys hardly moved

The average American boy's name has stayed between 5.55 and 6.00 letters in every year since 1880, less than half a letter from top to bottom. It peaked in 1989 too, but only just. It sat at 5.99 or 6.00 every year from 1984 to 1989. The biggest long boys' name of those years was Christopher, eleven letters, second in 1989 and given to one American boy in 39. Nicholas and Jonathan came next.

Since 1989, shorter

The full American files show the turn. In 1990 the average girl's name was 6.41 letters. By 2017 it was 6.00, about where it was in 1970. The share of girls with a name of four letters or fewer doubled, from 7.8% to 15.9%. The share with eight letters or more fell from 22.1% to 15.3%.

So by 2017 the short names were ahead of the long ones again. By our counts that had not happened since 1967. Boys moved a little the same way, from 6.00 letters to 5.77.

We do not have American counts after 2017, but the rankings carry on to 2025, and they point the same way. These count names, not babies. In 2015, 17 of America's top 100 girls' names had four letters or fewer. In 2025 it was 23. In came Luna, Isla, Ivy, Nova, Iris, Eden, Ayla, Lyla and Jade. Names of eight letters or more went from 17 to 10. Samantha fell from 40th to 151st, Brooklyn from 31st to 118th and Savannah from 38th to 135th. For boys the top 100 is mixed: names of four letters or fewer went from 16 to 20, and names of eight or more from 10 to 12.

Britain went shorter

In England and Wales in 2025 the average girl's name was 5.63 letters and the average boy's 5.57. American girls' names were last that short in 1907. American boys' names have not been that short since 1900.

One baby in four here has a name of four letters or fewer: 23.9% of girls and 23.9% of boys, 125,997 babies in all. In America in 2017 it was 15.9% of girls and 17.6% of boys.

You can see it at the top of the tables. For girls, Lily is second with 2,249 babies, Isla fourth, Ivy ninth, Ava 11th and Mia 21st. 34 of the top 100 girls' names here have four letters or fewer, against 23 in America's top 100. For boys, Noah is second, Leo third and Luca fourth, then Theo 12th, Jude 14th and Arlo 15th. Three-letter names alone went to 4.3% of babies, girls and boys alike.

Long names are rarer here too, with one exception. 12.0% of girls in England and Wales have eight letters or more, against 15.3% in America. For boys it is 11.0% here and 9.6% there, but that is one name. Muhammad, the number one boys' name, has eight letters and went to 5,957 boys. Leave it out and the figure here is 9.0%.

And here boys' and girls' names are almost the same length. The gap is 0.06 of a letter. In America in 2017 it was 0.23, and in 1989 0.42. The 2024 file for England and Wales gives the same picture as 2025, so this is not one odd year.

What it means for you

If you like a short name, you are in good company, especially in Britain. In England and Wales a girl's name of four letters or fewer is now about as common as a name of eight letters or more was in America in 1989. If you want a name that stands out by its length, the long ones are the rarer choice now on both sides of the Atlantic.

The data shows when names got longer and when they got shorter. It does not tell us why. For the letters names start and end with, see J for boys, A for girls and N for boys, A for girls.