What’s in a baby name? A name consultant shares her take on the top Minnesota names

NINA MOINI: M Health Fairview announced its list of top baby names of 2024 after the system helped deliver 12,000 babies at nine locations across the state. Boy names include Theodore, Oliver, Henry. They've had lasting appeal, taking turns in the top three spots on Fairview's annual list since 2021.

For girls' names, Olivia, Emma, and Evelyn dethroned the perennial frontrunner, Charlotte. (CHUCKLING) I love this. Joining us today to talk about this list is Steph Coffield, a name consultant and Minnesota mom.

Her social media accounts, Names With Steph, have garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram by posting name suggestions, inspiration, and offering name consulting services. She's also the author of two books, Names Don't Have an Age and Names Don't Have a Gender. Thanks so much for being here, Steph.

STEPH COFFIELD: Thank you for having me.

NINA MOINI: Such a fun job that you have. I was like, what? There are baby name consultants? How did you get started in this?

STEPH COFFIELD: It's such a-- I stumbled into it. It's a happy accident, and I was posting online about birth empowerment and started talking about baby names. And then, people asked me more questions. And you earn credibility, and you post, and then you're like, hey, I could charge for this. And--

NINA MOINI: Right. Yeah, making use of a skill. That's wonderful.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yes, exactly.

NINA MOINI: What does your job entail? Like, what is the process?

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, so people fill out a form, and they answer questions, and they give me their inspiration list and their criteria. And then, I go from there, and I do a curated baby name list just for them.

NINA MOINI: OK. And people could be deciding between multiple names--

STEPH COFFIELD: Yes.

NINA MOINI: --customized names. What are some of their top priorities that they come to you with?

STEPH COFFIELD: Easy to say and spell. That's a big one. But they still don't want something, like, in the top 100. I get a lot of people who want to stay out of the top 100 of the 1,000 list for the US. And then, I get people who sometimes want something interesting. And I had one client that said, I want a name that makes people pause. So that's cool.

NINA MOINI: Everybody wants something different. What makes people, you think, take the step of getting a consultant for it? Is it like it's just so hard to decide with their partner, or their mom's getting involved?

STEPH COFFIELD: Yes, exactly. Pressure. I always recommend, do not share the name ahead of time. Bad idea. The opinions can really get to you, and I get people who are panicked about-- they shared it, and everyone hates the name, and I'm like, that's a gorgeous name. You know?

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

STEPH COFFIELD: So I do think, yeah, people are struggling, and there's a lot of importance on your identity and with online social media. And it's just different. Back in the day, there was-- like, the same 20 names were recycled. And now, we have so many options.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. To me, it seemed like, when the producers and I were talking about it, that a lot of my friends who are having kids-- their names are on this list. I just want to read the ten of each. So boy names-- Theodore, Oliver, Henry, Noah, Liam, Levi, William, Owen, Jack, James. Girls-- Olivia, Emma, Evelyn, Charlotte, Eleanor, Amelia, Harper, Nora, Isla, Violet.

I know a kid with every one of those names. But you're saying that it actually used to be even more common. There were less names to choose from. Tell me about that.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, so if you look at how many girls were given-- so the top name, Olivia, in the US was given to 15,270 babies. But 50 years ago, in 1973, Jennifer was the top name, and it was given to 62,446 babies. So that's a huge difference-- 15,060 and 62,000.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. What trends are you seeing now? Like, what are people after?

STEPH COFFIELD: People are after what I have coined alternative feminine names, which are, they're not the hyper-feminine, like Isabella and Sophia and Olivia. They're more like Blythe and Margo and Daphne. Those are kind of becoming more and more popular-- Sloan and Piper for girls, so. And then, people also really love an elegant name, and they also love gender-neutral these days.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. So do you think that social media has an influence on what names people are picking?

STEPH COFFIELD: Absolutely. Yeah. You follow your favorite creators. People are announcing their pregnancies. Baby name reveals are huge. Your favorite influencer saying, these are the names I loved but didn't use-- it's like people keep hearing more and more about baby names, and I think it's putting a little more pressure on parents than it used to.

NINA MOINI: Interesting. So tell me more about that.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, I feel like when you hear, oh, somebody picked such a creative name, or oh, they picked such an uncommon name-- like, I chose uncommon for my kids. And so you start to feel like, well, I can't just pick one-- a classic name that I love. And so you feel a little pressure to think of something unique.

NINA MOINI: Or when someone kind of close to you took the name you wanted.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah.

NINA MOINI: Then you got to rethink.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah.

NINA MOINI: So, like we mentioned, some of these names have been in the top 10 for years and years and years. Why do you think the top baby names seem to stay the same for so long?

STEPH COFFIELD: I'm not sure exactly. I think we hear them and they have an appealing flow. I really do believe it's about the sounds of these, like, top names. There's a lot of vowels. If you look at Evelyn and Emma and Olivia, like people-- there's something really melodic about that, and people really love a beautiful-sounding name. And Theodore-- how amazing does that sound, with nicknames Teddy or Theo.

NINA MOINI: What do you think about older names? Like, when could we see a Jennifer come back? Or how many Catherines do we know?

[LAUGHTER]

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, yeah.

NINA MOINI: Do you see those circling back at all?

STEPH COFFIELD: Not those mid-century names, or those '80s, '90s-- Jennifer, Britney. We don't see those as much as we see, for boys, like, Oscar and Felix. Those ones are coming back. Or even Violet and Hazel-- those are incredibly popular names right now. And everyone used to say, oh, that's a grandma name. Well, names don't have an age, as I say.

NINA MOINI: What's your advice for parents who are thinking about a name? What are maybe the top few things they should consider?

STEPH COFFIELD: I like to consider the flow and the syllable length with your surname and the middle name options. And so I like to do a variety of syllables, instead of a one-syllable plus a one-syllable. And I also think you can look at the meaning. I have found that's not super important to most people. It's mostly about matching with their other children-- a "sib set," as we call it.

[LAUGHTER]

NINA MOINI: I love that!

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, sib sets. So it's about pairing those. And if you're going with the vintage vibe, or if you're going for a gender-neutral vibe, everybody gets kind of the same vibe.

NINA MOINI: OK. So before I let you go-- we have a couple minutes. I know that you have three kiddos yourself.

STEPH COFFIELD: Mm-hmm, I do.

NINA MOINI: So how does a name consultant pick her own names for your own kids?

STEPH COFFIELD: And it was pressure, and I wasn't even a consultant when I did this. So I've always loved names, and I spent-- my husband-- we spent my entire pregnancies. So I have a Euan, which is-- my husband's Scottish-- E-U-A-N. And then I have a Fitz and an Oriana. And--

NINA MOINI: Beautiful.

STEPH COFFIELD: Thank you. None of them are ranking in the top 1,000, and I love it. [CHUCKLES]

NINA MOINI: We have a Scottish Euan Euan Kerr, right in our very own newsroom.

STEPH COFFIELD: (LAUGHING) Yeah, the producer told me. Yeah.

NINA MOINI: Oh, what should people do if people react poorly to the name that they've selected?

STEPH COFFIELD: The baby name regret-- that happens. I always say give it some time, because sometimes postpartum, there's a lot of emotions, and it might not be that you regret the name. You're just, like, stressed, and life is hard. But I would definitely say, my advice is, change it right away when you make that decision. If your gut tells you to change your baby's name, there's no shame in that. It happens.

NINA MOINI: Wait, really?

STEPH COFFIELD: Yes.

NINA MOINI: Like, right after?

STEPH COFFIELD: I mean, within a few months. I wouldn't wait too long. Because what happens is you get people who are, like, a year out, and they're like, oh, I don't know what to do. And at that point, your baby's a year old.

NINA MOINI: That's a long time.

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

STEPH COFFIELD: But they stress about it. And I've seen it multiple times where people are like, well, I just don't know. So if you have that gut instinct, just change it and move on with your life. Otherwise, it'll kind of eat away at you.

NINA MOINI: And when should somebody seek a consultant? When is it time, do you think?

STEPH COFFIELD: I think it's time right away when you get pregnant, so you can get a bunch of options. Or it's when you can't make a decision and you and your partner need to find that middle ground.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. What is your favorite part about doing this job and helping people through such an important decision that impacts the rest of their lives and, obviously, the child's life?

STEPH COFFIELD: Yeah, exactly. I love when people say, wow, I hadn't considered that name. Oh, that's the perfect name. I love when people give me feedback of, like, I've never heard that name in your video before. And for clients, I love when they come back and they send me a little photo, and they say, hey, this is what we named the baby. And I love hearing about that.

NINA MOINI: Well, I loved hearing about this, Steph. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your unique work with us.

STEPH COFFIELD: Thank you so much.

NINA MOINI: We appreciate you. Steph Coffield, a Minnesota-based name consultant.