The ‘ Donald’ drop: Fewer babies bear name in 2016

Trump may be factor, BabyNames CEO says

The name Donald has been losing popularity in the USA for decades, but it took its biggest drop in 2016, and Donald Trump may be the reason why.

The name ranked 488 in the Social Security Administration’s annual report on popular baby names for boys in 2016, down from 441 in 2015 and 418 in 2014. ( The most popular boy’s name last year was Noah.)

Of roughly 4 million births last year, 621 babies were named Donald, according to the Social Security report released in May.

Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of BabyNames. com, said the lack of popularity in the name Donald could be linked to the controversial, real estate billionaire who is president.

“Famous and infamous people have been known to have a big influence on baby naming. We call this ‘ mass perception,’ where the name is identified with one per- son by the masses. Like Oprah or Madonna,” Moss said.

In 1946, when Trump was born, Donald was the 13th- mostpopular male name in the USA.

Trump’s ancestral country of Scotland also saw the name Donald plummet in popularity last year, according to the National Records of Scotland. It ranked 442nd, along with Che, Eden and Lomond.

Trump’s mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in western Scotland, emigrated to New York in 1930.

Some experts on names said Donald has gone out of style for reasons unrelated to the 45th president.

“You know, Donald Trump is 71 years old. It was in style when he was born but not in style anymore,” said Pamela Satran, co- creator of the baby name website Nameberry.

Satran said a name typically takes 100 years — four generations — to become popular again.

“Most people won’t use names of their own generation or parents’ generation for their babies. They may go for names of their grandparents, and this is how those names come back in style,” she said.

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