Here's a great sign that our border is secure and has been for years: Mateo has broken into the top 10 US baby names for boys and is on track to keep moving up the list.
Mateo.
Mateo has made a huge jump over the past year, moving from the eleventh most popular name in the US in 2022 to the sixth most popular name in 2023.
Yes, and even CNN knows why this trend is occurring.
The name's rising popularity is likely linked to the growing Latino population in the US, says Kihm, who notes it's become increasingly common for people of many different backgrounds to turn to their heritage when naming their babies.
Makes you wonder how many of these Mateos have the surname "Anchor baby."
I kid, I kid, they can't all be the children of illegals.
Mateo made it into the boys' top 10 list for the first time, becoming the sixth-most popular boys' name in 2023 and edging Benjamin off the list, according to recently released data from the Social Security Administration …
More than 11,000 babies in the US were named Mateo last year, the highest number on record, according to the Social Security Administration. The name, which means ‘gift of God,' began ranking in the top 1,000 in 1995, Kihm says. Two decades later, it had reached the top 100. And in recent years, its popularity has intensified at an even faster rate, Kihm says.
This is the first time a Latino name has made the top 10 on the boys side, and with the name's rising popularity, don't be surprised if it makes a few more jumps over the next few years, eventually finding its way to that number one spot.
Here's a chart showing the name's rising popularity since the 90s:
Mateo making some pretty serious strides!
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