One year after Caitlyn Jenner announced her new name and gender, the popularity of the name Caitlyn plummeted more than any other baby name, according to the US Social Security Administration’s annual list of the most popular baby names.
In fact, the four names that dropped the most were all variations of the same name: Caitlin, Caitlyn, Katelynn and Kaitlynn.
“It was inevitable,” BabynameWizard.com founder Laura Wattenberg said. “Caitlyn was already falling in popularity. Now it is suddenly controversial.”
The agency released its annual list of the 1,000 most popular baby names for last year on Friday. It uses the announcement to drive traffic to its Web site, where workers can start tracking their benefits long before they retire.
Emma was the top baby name for girls for the third consecutive year. It was followed by Olivia, Ava, Sophia and Isabella.
Noah was the top baby name for boys for the fourth consecutive year. It was followed by Liam, William, Mason and James.
The agency also lists the baby names that increase — and decrease — the most in popularity.
All four versions of Caitlyn fell out of the top 1,000.
In 2015, then-Bruce Jenner, an Olympic gold medalist, shocked the world when she announced that she is now a transgender woman. The iconic cover of Vanity Fair magazine was emblazoned with the quote, “Call me Caitlyn,” on top of a picture of a very feminine Jenner.
The issue sparked much debate and an outpouring of support for Jenner in a country that is still evolving in its views of gay marriage and equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The first time any spelling of Caitlin showed up on the agency’s list of popular baby names was in 1976 when Caitlin debuted at No. 947.
C-a-i-t-l-i-n has been the most common spelling. The name reached the height of its popularity in 1988, when it ranked No. 44. After 17 years in the top 100 it started to fall after the turn of the century.
Last year, it fell 542 spots — the biggest drop of any name — to No. 1,151.
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