The post 17 Baby names that could go extinct in 2026 first appeared on Crafting Your Home.
Of course, Karen and Jessica are the obvious ones. Their reputations as quintessentially millennial and Gen X names have already made them shorthand for a particular generation of American women, but neither is the real surprise here. The more interesting names are the ones that still sound perfectly normal to an American ear yet are quietly falling out of use.
The latest U.S. Social Security Administration data give a useful snapshot of that process. The agency’s 2025 figures, released in May 2026, show hundreds of names losing substantial ground in just one year, including names that fell from inside the top 1,000 to well outside it.
That does not mean any of the names below have literally disappeared. SSA excludes names with fewer than five occurrences in a geographic area from some published files for privacy reasons, so disappearance from a ranking and disappearance from American birth records are two very different things.
Still, the 2025 numbers reveal something worth watching as 2026 unfolds: several familiar, fashionable and culturally recognizable names are losing ground fast.
Karim
Karim fell from No. 821 among U.S. boys in 2024 to No. 1,084 in 2025, a 263-place drop. The decline was accompanied by 198 recorded U.S. births in 2025, compared with 305 the year before, according to an analysis of SSA data.
That makes Karim an interesting example of how quickly a recognizable name can move from the national mainstream into relative obscurity. It is already below the SSA’s top 1,000, so another sustained decline would push it farther away from the names most American parents encounter on annual popularity lists.
Khaza
Khaza dropped from No. 963 in 2024 to No. 1,199 in 2025, losing 236 places in a single year. Its rise had also been relatively recent: available U.S. records show it reached No. 802 in 2023 before reversing direction.
That history matters because Khaza is not an old-fashioned name slowly fading after generations of use. It is an example of a newer American naming choice that gained visibility and then lost momentum almost as quickly.
Landen
Landen fell from No. 815 to No. 1,045 between 2024 and 2025. Earlier SSA-based records show just how far the name had traveled: Landen ranked No. 199 in 2008, when 1,953 American boys received it.
That kind of decline makes a name especially interesting. Landen was once common enough to appear in many classrooms and youth sports rosters, yet the latest numbers place it outside the national top 1,000.
Nixon
Nixon dropped 194 places, from No. 867 in 2024 to No. 1,061 in 2025. Its trajectory is striking because the name had climbed substantially during the 2010s, reaching No. 482 in 2017 before beginning a longer retreat.
Names attached to prominent historical figures can have unusual staying power, but Nixon shows that recognition does not guarantee continued use. The name’s recent decline places it firmly among the choices worth watching as parents move toward newer alternatives.
Castiel
Castiel went from No. 817 in 2024 to No. 1,009 in 2025, losing 192 positions. The name had spent more than a decade hovering around the lower reaches of the American rankings, reaching No. 723 in 2019 before slipping again.
Castiel also demonstrates how pop-culture names can have a surprisingly long tail. Its presence in U.S. naming records continued well after its initial appearance, but the latest movement suggests that its cultural moment may be losing influence among new parents.
Zen
Zen fell from No. 956 to No. 1,144 for boys between 2024 and 2025. The 188-place drop moved the name from the edge of the top 1,000 into a considerably more obscure position.
Zen has the advantage of being short, familiar and instantly recognizable as a word. That does not necessarily translate into sustained baby-name popularity, and its latest ranking shows how quickly a name with a strong aesthetic identity can fall when the surrounding naming fashion changes.
Dangelo
Dangelo dropped from No. 967 to No. 1,154 in one year, a decline of 187 places. That shift is significant because it moved the name from barely inside the national top 1,000 to well outside it.
Names with distinctive spellings can have complicated popularity curves because parents often move between related forms. A decline in one spelling therefore does not automatically mean the underlying sound or naming style has disappeared.
Zaylen
Zaylen fell from No. 886 in 2024 to No. 1,072 in 2025. The 186-place decline puts it in the same broad group of modern-sounding names that had achieved national visibility before losing ground.
That matters because the American naming market is crowded with variations built around similar sounds. Parents who once considered Zaylen may now be choosing another Z-starting or -ayden-style name, leaving individual spellings more vulnerable to sudden drops.
Aubrie
Aubrie experienced one of the largest declines among girls, falling from No. 999 in 2024 to No. 1,353 in 2025. The 354-place drop took it from the final edge of the top 1,000 to considerably outside it.
The spelling itself also illustrates a larger problem for individual variants: American parents can abandon one version of a familiar name without abandoning the underlying naming family. Aubrie’s decline therefore says more about this particular spelling than about every Aubrey-style name.
Jaycee
Jaycee dropped from No. 882 among girls in 2024 to No. 1,155 in 2025. SSA-based historical data show the name once ranked much higher, at No. 620 in 2014 with 463 births, before gradually losing ground.
The decline is especially sharp because Jaycee had repeatedly returned to the top 1,000 during the previous decade. Falling out now suggests that the name’s period of mainstream familiarity may be closing unless a new cultural association gives it another push.
Zendaya
Zendaya fell from No. 943 in 2024 to No. 1,189 in 2025, a 246-place decline. The name remains relatively young in U.S. naming records, with 3,873 recorded births since 2011 and its highest annual use occurring in 2022.
That makes its decline more revealing than the disappearance of an elderly classic. Zendaya entered American baby naming during a period when distinctive celebrity-associated names could rapidly gain attention, yet the latest figures show that recognition can fade even when the person behind a name remains famous.
Related: Ava Just Dropped Out of America’s Top 10 Baby Names — Here’s the Name That Replaced It
Allyson
Allyson dropped from No. 914 in 2024 to No. 1,139 in 2025. The spelling had a much stronger run in previous decades, with SSA-based records showing its peak occurring in the 1990s and more than 53,000 recorded births since 1945.
Its decline reminds us that American parents can keep a familiar sound while abandoning a particular spelling. Allison, Alison and other related forms compete for some of the same cultural territory, which can make an individual version look far weaker than the broader naming family.
Natasha
Natasha fell from No. 933 in 2024 to No. 1,148 in 2025. Its decline has been gradual rather than sudden: the name ranked No. 312 in 2005 and No. 401 in 2009 before falling steadily.
That long descent gives Natasha a different kind of extinction risk from a fashionable name that collapses after a short trend. It has already passed through several generations of American naming culture, and its current numbers suggest it is becoming more associated with an older generation than with newborns.
Related: The Fastest-Rising Baby Names of 2026 All Share One Surprising Theme
Liberty
Liberty fell from No. 976 in 2024 to No. 1,188 in 2025. Its decline is striking because the name had spent years much higher in the rankings, reaching No. 501 in 2010 and No. 541 as recently as 2016.
A patriotic or ideological association can give a name a powerful cultural identity, but it doesn’t guarantee longevity. Liberty’s latest numbers show that even names built around highly familiar American concepts can become less fashionable as parents shift toward different styles.
Marjorie
Marjorie dropped from No. 822 in 2024 to No. 1,019 in 2025. The name has a much deeper American history than most names on this list, reaching No. 33 nationally in 1921 before spending decades moving away from that peak.
That history makes Marjorie a classic example of generational naming cycles. A name can spend decades sounding old-fashioned, disappear from common use and eventually return when younger parents decide its age gives it character.
Cynthia
Cynthia slipped from No. 829 in 2024 to No. 1,014 in 2025, falling just outside the top 1,000. The name was once dramatically more common, reaching the top 10 for American girls during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Few names demonstrate generational turnover more clearly. Cynthia remains instantly recognizable to American adults, yet recognition among parents does not necessarily translate into newborn use, which is why a once-mainstream name can suddenly look endangered on a contemporary chart.
Amyra
Amyra fell from No. 970 in 2024 to No. 1,153 in 2025. The name had been moving upward before that reversal, reaching No. 968 in 2024 after sitting below the top 1,000 for several earlier years.
That makes Amyra one of the clearest warnings against treating baby-name extinction as a straight line. A name can rise, fall and rise again, particularly when parents discover alternative spellings or neighboring names that satisfy the same taste.
Other Posts You May Like
If you like what you just read, then subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
