In this video, we're looking at baby girl names that I genuinely can't believe aren't more popular, from familiar vintage choices to names that feel perfectly suited to what parents are choosing right now.

But we're also talking about something I think gets lost when we discuss baby name popularity: rank and actual usage are not the same thing.

A ranking tells us where a name falls in relation to every other name. It doesn't tell us, by itself, how common that name actually is.

The difference between #20 and #200 isn't automatically "10 times more popular," and two names separated by hundreds of ranking positions can have a much smaller difference in actual usage than their rankings make it seem. Rankings are useful in some regards, but I feel like it's hard to get a grasp on how popular a name actually is if you're using the ranking alone.

That's why I like looking at the actual number of babies receiving each name, and why I'm so keen towards what I call the *Olivia Test*

Olivia was the #1 baby girl name in the United States in 2025, with 13,544 babies receiving the name. Instead of only saying, for example, "Estelle ranked #573," we can compare its 523 uses directly with Olivia. There were roughly 26 babies named Olivia for every one named Estelle.

The Olivia Test isn't meant to suggest that Olivia is "too popular," that popularity is good or bad, or that every name should be compared with Olivia when choosing a baby name. Olivia is simply a useful benchmark because it represents the most-used girl name of the year so I just like to use it as kind of a "measuring stick."

If I tell you a name ranks #1,400, that number can feel abstract. If I tell you roughly 150 babies in the entire United States received that name while more than 13,500 were named Olivia, suddenly you have a much clearer picture of what it's usage might mean in the real world.

And that's ultimately what I'm interested in: *not just where a name ranks, but how often parents are actually using it.*

Which one are YOU most surprised isn't more popular? And what name would you add to the list?

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All U.S. baby name statistics discussed in this video are based on 2025 Social Security Administration baby name data. Rankings are helpful shorthand, but usage counts and the percentage/share of births provide important additional context when evaluating how common a name actually is.

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