Trending in baby naming right now is palindromes, names spelled the same forward and backward like Anna and Ada and Bob.
Popular baby names site Names.org Names.org released a list this week of the Most Popular Palindromes and Names with Meanings Spelled Backwards, after analyzing Social Security Administration data since 1890, and trending interest from millions of visitors on their website in 2020.
The trend is actually not that new though it is a phenomenon of this millennium . Back in 2000, rock star Sonny Sandoval explained the meaning of his daughter Nevaeh’s name on MTV.
From the Greek term palíndromos which means “to run backwards,” these trending names are great for only children, siblings or twins.
For instance, a set of boy and girl twins could be Aidan and Nadia, girl twins could be Ellen and Nelle, and boy twins could be Ira and Ari.
In case you are interested, here are the 10 most popular palindromes since 1890:
1) Anna: 896,000
2) Hannah: 434,000
3) Ava: 266,000
4) Ana: 102,000
5) Ada: 96,000
6) Bob: 93,000
7) Otto: 33,000
8) Eve: 25,000
9) Asa: 18,000
10) Elle: 14,000
Not suprising, the forward version of palindrome baby names are more popular than the backwards one as you can see from the below chart but that shouldn’t stop you from naming your twins theses monikers if you are expecting and still weighing options:
Forwards | Backwards |
1. Leon: 168,000 babies since 1890 | Noel: 61,000 babies since 1890 |
2. Aiden: 112,000 | Nadia: 42,000 |
3. Nevaeh: 80,000 | Heaven: 26,000 |
4. Ali: 37,000 | Ila: 22,000 |
5. Nora: 151,000 | Aron: 19,000 |
6. Ira: 59,000 | Ari: 18,000 |
7. Anaya: 12,000 | Ayana: 11,000 |
8. James: 5.2 million | Semaj: 8,000 |
9. Arden: 13,000 | Nedra: 7,000 |
10. Ami: 8,000 | Ima: 7,000 |
