One-Hit Wonder Names

Some names have a single, unmistakable year — a sudden surge, then a retreat almost as quick. These are the 33 names in 146 years of U.S. records whose best year stood at least 4× above the years around it. A name that arrived, landed, and moved on.

All33 Girls’ names26 Boys’ names7

Every name whose single best year towered over the years on either side of it — a real surge that faded almost as fast as it arrived.

Name & meaning	Babies 2025 · rank	5-year rank movement	Peak year
Dewey Possibly related to Dewi and David; surname origins vary	28#3,869	Down 278 rank positions in five years	1898
Renata Reborn	635#481	Up 27 rank positions in five years	1980
Ashanti Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	89#2,102	Down 294 rank positions in five years	2002
Farrah Iron worker, smith	168#1,328	Down 116 rank positions in five years	1977
Katina Form of Katerina	—Unranked	—	1972
Marquita Variant of Marquis	—Unranked	—	1983
Tyrese Blend of Tyrone and Reese	48#2,713	Down 548 rank positions in five years	1999
Khadijah Alternate transcription of Khadija	151#1,432	Up 260 rank positions in five years	1994
Analia From Spanish Analía; literal meaning unconfirmed	394#711	Down 36 rank positions in five years	2009
Iesha Variant of Aisha	—Unranked	—	1991
Catina Form of Cătălina	—Unranked	—	1972
Yulissa Variant of Julissa	48#3,294	Down 547 rank positions in five years	1997
Halley Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	43#3,536	Up 507 rank positions in five years	1986
Talan Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	34#3,438	Down 715 rank positions in five years	2006
Channing English surname transferred into given-name use	51#3,136	Down 1,250 rank positions in five years	1987
Deneen Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	—Unranked	—	1964
Kecia Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	—Unranked	—	1965
Marely Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	38#3,877	Up 1,240 rank positions in five years	2008
Allisson Of noble kind, through Alison	62#2,751	Up 473 rank positions in five years	2008
Isamar	47#3,311	Up 1,761 rank positions in five years	1990
Coretta Diminutive of Cora	—Unranked	—	1968
Kizzy Cassia tree, through Kezia	—Unranked	—	1977
Arsenio Masculine, virile	16#5,631	Down 382 rank positions in five years	1989
Tennille Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	5#17,029	new	1976
Levar	—Unranked	—	1977
Nakia Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed	—Unranked	—	1974
Akeelah	15#7,144	Down 1,656 rank positions in five years	2006
Kadijah	7#12,500	Up 1,724 rank positions in five years	1994
Kanye Meaning uncertain in the cited reference	5#12,960	Up 110 rank positions in five years	2004
Dayami	71#2,493	Up 3,026 rank positions in five years	2008
Yamilex	17#6,820	Up 3,392 rank positions in five years	1996
Mareli	20#6,039	Up 3,271 rank positions in five years	2008
Moesha	—Unranked	—	1996

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How a name qualifies

A name makes this list when its single busiest year reached at least 300 applications and stood 4× or more above the average of the 3 years before and the 3 after it. It also needs 1K uses across its whole history and a presence in at least 5 different years, so a one-off data blip can’t qualify — a real one-hit wonder rises and falls, it doesn’t appear from nowhere for a single year.

Years the name went unlisted count as fewer than five applications, not as gaps — otherwise the quiet years around a spike would be skipped and the spike would look smaller than it was. The most recent few years are held back too: a name peaking in, say, 2024 has no “years after” yet to compare against.

The measure is a ratio of counts a few years apart, so — unlike most statistics on this site — it needs no adjustment for the fact that far more babies were born mid-century than at the record’s edges.

On the “why.” These numbers show that a name surged, never why. The cause — a film, a song, a public figure, an event — isn’t in the birth data, so we don’t print one. The story behind each year is yours to recognise.