Endings are the overlooked keys to baby name style. The final “t” is the power behind fashionable names like Scarlett and Violet. The final “r” lends names like Cooper and Sawyer extra energy. Yet we alphabetize names in the standard order, starting at the beginning.
Here’s a chance to give the last letters their due. I’ve collected the current most popular baby names starting with every letter of the alphabet. Can you persuade your name-style brain to put the last first and think of popular names by their endings?
To guide your guesses, I’ve included the gender and an extra hint for each name. Don’t expect the gender listings to be much help, though. Remarkably, all but three of the 26 names in this list are male.
Click on the orange answer box to reveal the top name for each letter.
| LAST LETTER | M/F | HINT | CLICK FOR ANSWER |
| A | F | Shakespearean name that’s currently the most popular baby name in the English-speaking world | A
Olivia
|
| B | M | This biblical name was America’s #1 for the entire 2000s decade | B
Jacob
|
| C | M | The only name on this list with a double vowel | C
Isaac
|
| D | M | Biblical favorite that is spelled the same way in many languages | D
David
|
| E | F | A regal name imported from French, and a place name | E
Charlotte
|
| F | M | The Arabic version of a biblical classic | F
Yusuf
|
| G | M | A word name, and an homage to an American hero | G
King
|
| H | M | The only boy’s name ending in a vowel sound ever to be #1 in the U.S. | H
Noah
|
| I | M | A 19th-century Jewish immigrant made this name a symbol of American frontier grit | I
Levi
|
| J | M | This wordplay name is a familiar J- name backwards | J
Semaj
|
| K | M | A nickname that’s the same length as its traditional formal source | K
Jack
|
| L | M | The defining hit name of the second half of the 20th Century | L
Michael
|
| M | M | An Irish nickname for a familiar classic, now more popular than that classic in the U.S. | M
Liam
|
| N | M | A U.S. “founding father” name | N
Benjamin
|
| O | M | Seldom heard in the 20th Century, this is now America’s #1 Spanish boy’s name | O
Mateo
|
| P | M | A classical name, a biblical name, and an English royal name all in one | P
Philip
|
| Q | M | The Arabic name for the morning star | Q
Tariq
|
| R | M | The top boy’s name in England today | R
Oliver
|
| S | M | This timeless standard is America’s top one-syllable name | S
James
|
| T | M | A surname-based name with a Wild West edge | T
Wyatt
|
| U | M | Another western-style name, this is a word rather than name in French | U
Beau
|
| V | F | A full name in Scandinavia, but often a nickname in the U.S. | V
Liv
|
| W | M | The English version of a name that has already appeared on this list in another language | W
Matthew
|
| X | M | Often heard as a nickname, as a given name, and as a word | X
Max
|
| Y | M | The only English kingly name that is more popular in the U.S. today than 75 years ago | Y
Henry
|
| Z | M | This Spanish religious name is sometimes chosen for its macho English pronunciation | Z
Cruz
|
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