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Oaklee, Cohen, & Mateo: why are these Gen-Alpha's hottest names?
Fri, 04 Apr 2025
Baby names tell a story - about a family's unique history, about a specific moment in time, and even about politics. A survey tracking the top 500 names in states that went red or blue in the 2020 election recently went viral, highlighting popular names like Oakleigh and Stetson in red states, and Santino and Liana in blue states. Brittany is joined by Neda Ulaby, NPR Culture Correspondent, and Naftali Bendavid, Senior National Political Correspondent for the Washington Post to reflect on what popular baby names in red and blue states say about our current political moment.Support public media and receive ad-free listening & bonus content. Join NPR+ today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: Who are the guests discussing Gen-Alpha baby names?
Well, we are going to find out with NPR culture correspondent, Neda Ulabi. Thanks, Brittany. And Naftali Ben-David, senior national political correspondent for The Washington Post. Thanks for having me. And, you know, you both have such beautiful names. I'm wondering, do you feel like your parents got it right? Do you feel like your names capture your essence?
I have to admit, I suffered a lot from having this name over the years because nobody knows what to make of it or they think that it's a woman's name. But, you know, you grow into these things. And I guess by now I feel a lot of affection for it.
Oh, that's beautiful. What about you, Netta?
You know, I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas as a child, and there were not a lot of Nettas there. And when my family moved to Michigan when I was 12, I immediately changed my name, my first name Netta, to my middle name, which is Elizabeth. And it turns out that I was the kid that they had named to me.
Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful. My parents named me Brittany. And that was only because they felt like Ashley wasn't quite right. Little do they know they are functionally in 2025, almost the exact same name for all intents and purposes. So I suppose if Brittany captures my essence, there's probably millions of other women my exact same age that have the same essence as well.
Well, whether you love your name or you hate it, one thing is true. Everyone's name is deeply personal. But what you might not have realized is that your name is deeply political, too. Let me lay this out. Netta and I were on a call last week and she blew my mind when she started talking about the reddest and bluest, you know, Republican and Democratic baby names.
She found this survey that tracked the top 500 names in states that had gone red or blue in the 2020 presidential election. For Republican boy names, I would have guessed, I don't know, Mike or Peter or Ryan, you know, traditional white guy names. But no, one of the most popular boys names specific to red states was Cohen, a Jewish holy name for priests.
Now over in blue states, some of the most prevalent boy names were Moshe, Santino, and Muhammad. And 84% of baby names specific to blue states were primarily pulled from languages other than English. We will come back to this. The big point here is that names signify something. They, of course, signify us. We hear our parents, friends, and coworkers shouting our name from another room.
The barista at the coffee shop either knows how to spell it or not. And it's the easiest way to identify someone. But our names are also cultural heritages. They come from our parents. And our parents are consciously or unconsciously pulling from the culture they were born into and an imagined culture they want each of us to be a part of.
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Chapter 2: What do popular baby names in red and blue states reveal politically?
One of the statistics in the survey that gets to a bigger picture here is that 84% of the top names specific to blue states, places with more diverse populations, were derived from non-English sources, while 90% of the reddest names come from English sources. They have English origins, these names, like Baylor or Stetson or Sutton or Tripp.
That immediately made me think of how earlier last month, President Trump signed an executive order declaring English as this country's official language. Now, Tali, how does that line up with other ways that Trump and conservatives are actively renaming cultural landmarks in the United States? What story of America are they trying to tell?
Well, I'd say that President Trump's always somebody who's been very sensitive to the power of names and what they mean. And he's always attached, of course, his own name to big buildings in Manhattan and Las Vegas and really around the world. And now that he's president, he has additional authority to name things that we all refer to and that we all look at and
Of course, we all know about the Gulf of Mexico and him wanting to call that the Gulf of America. And also he's renamed some military forts whose names were changed because they were the names of Confederate generals. And I do think names are about the stories we tell. You know, when we name our children, those are about... who we want them to be in the world.
And when we talk about landmarks, it's about the story of our country. And I think the story that he's trying to tell through these names is a more conservative view of America. It's one that ends up sort of downplaying minority or African-American or indigenous presences.
And so I think just as a few years ago, activists wanted to remove the names of Confederates that were on all kinds of military facilities. You know, now there's an effort to change names and tell a different story of America.
Yeah, speaking of a different story of America, I am also thinking about how Mateo became a top 10 name, a name like Mateo that is derived from Spanish.
And now I kind of got the sense that when President Trump moved to make English the official language of the United States, that Spanish, which is becoming more and more prevalent and more and more useful to speak in the United States, couldn't help but think that Spanish was one of the languages that perhaps the president was trying to avoid being spoken in the country.
But so much of this is about identity. And the language we speak, just like the names that we have, is central to that. And I think a lot of what's going on in this country is about identity. And as we've been discussing, you know, sometimes that's the identity of an individual. And sometimes it's more of a collective identity.
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Chapter 3: How is President Trump influencing cultural naming and renaming?
Everybody likes Olivia. Everyone likes Noah. Everyone likes Emma. The most popular names are still the most popular names by far.
zooming out into the political. Naftali, you know, we've been talking a little bit about nature and President Donald Trump and his administration, they have chosen to put forth changes to some of America's big landmarks.
You know, as you mentioned, Trump announced that he wanted to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America or change a mountain in Alaska, currently named Mount Denali, which is the traditional native name of the mountain, back to Mount McKinley. And then there's the Anahuac, National Refuge in Texas, which is an indigenous name that Trump wants to rename after Jocelyn Nungere.
One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much, she loved nature. A 12-year-old girl allegedly killed by undocumented immigrants. Across Galveston Bay from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent National Wildlife Refuge. a pristine, peaceful 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God's creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America.
I know that one of the most important examples of Trump's renaming obsession for you, Naftali, was his renaming of two military outposts to Fort Bragg and Fort Benning. Those had been changed following the post-George Floyd protests and moment of 2020 because they were named after Confederate generals. But Trump has changed them back.
But also, I thought Congress had passed a law that people literally could not name things after Confederate figures. So how did Trump get here?
Well, that's one of the things I think is so fascinating about that move. As you say, Congress has made it illegal to name something after a Confederate official or general. So what the Trump administration did is they essentially found little known soldiers. I mean, these were brave guys, needs to be said.
They'd won medals, but they certainly were not the kind of person that would ordinarily have a military installation named after them. Ford Benning was initially named after a guy named Henry Benning, but they found a guy named Fred Benning. He was a medal winner. And they just said, okay, now this Ford is named after him.
And similarly, Braxton Bragg, who was a pretty unpalatable Confederate leader, they said, okay, now it's named after a guy named Roland Bragg. These are not well-known figures, but it was a way to say, okay, we are going to name these things Ford Benning and Ford Bragg, but we're going to circumvent the law by saying that it's not, in this case, as it was, named after a Confederate leader.
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Chapter 4: What cultural identities are reflected in baby names like Mateo and Oaklee?
Hmm.
Well, Netta Naftali, thank you both so much. I've learned so much and you both have given me so much to think about. Thank you so much, Brittany. This was great.
Chapter 5: How do red state baby names connect to nature and social trends?
Thank you.
And as a thank you, I would like to teach you something about some of the richest people in the world. Can you stick around for a tiny bit longer? You bet. Of course. All right. We'll be right back with a little game I like to call, but did you know, stick around.
Support for NPR comes from the Cy Sims Foundation, since 1985, supporting advances in science, education, and the arts towards a fairer, more just, and civil society. More information is available at cysimsfoundation.org.
All right, all right. We are going to play a little game I like to call, But Did You Know? Here's how it works. I'm going to share a story that's been making headlines this week and ask you trivia about it. But don't worry, it's all multiple choice. And the first one to blurt out the right answer gets a point. The person with the most points wins and their prize is bragging rights.
Are y'all ready? Ready. All right. That's what I like to hear. Okay. To start, Forbes just dropped its annual billionaire list. And for those who have been listening for a while... you might know that we played a game on this last year. So Naftali and Netta, I hope you were paying attention because in 2025, the billionaire list has a new record of total billionaires worldwide.
Hint, none of them are me. How many billionaires are there? A. 2,028 billionaires. B, 3,028 billionaires. Or C, 4,028 billionaires.
I think it's 3,028. Okay.
Naftali says B. What say you, Netta?
You know, just to be different, I'm going to say 4,000.
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Chapter 6: What controversies surround renaming military bases and landmarks?
Sounds like a lot to me. I'm surprised at how many there are.
If I met one, I would definitely give them my bank account number.
Especially because we clearly need more.
That's what I'm saying. You know, just from an ethical perspective, it's like, I don't know, like just spread it around, share the wealth, share with me. Personally, if I had that kind of money, I would fund public media for the next decade and buy myself an affordable home and a walkable neighborhood. But what would you do with it? Oh, I would fund public media for the next millennia.
You're so much more generous than I am. What about you? What about you, Naftali?
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Chapter 7: Why is renaming culturally and politically significant in America?
I think I would fund daily newspapers for the foreseeable future.
I love that. But no fun purchases? Like nobody wants to water ski? Like no fur coat?
You know, if I had endless money, I would buy art for sure.
Oh, that's a good one. Okay. These are good answers. Y'all are so great. I'm like, I would find out who's making Beyonce's custom wigs and fly them to my home. That's art. That's art. Exactly.
I was going to say that.
That's what you were going to say? That was your answer now, Tali?
Yeah.
Great minds. Okay. All right. Well, question number two, which of these newly added celebrity billionaires is worth the most money? A. Jerry Seinfeld. B. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or C. Bruce Springsteen.
I'm going to go with Bruce. I agree. I have a vague memory that he may have sold his catalog. And while you can make a lot of money from Seinfeld residuals, I don't think that those have spiked recently.
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Chapter 8: What concluding insights do the guests share about names and identity?
Although I have to add that Mr. Springsteen claimed to The Telegraph last year that he is not a billionaire because he, quote, spent too much money on superfluous things, to which I have to ask, what do you think Bruce spent all his money on? Do you think it was an affordable home in a walkable neighborhood? Yeah.
cars. I mean, it's hard to know.
Maybe he's just getting all of his blue jeans repaired. I don't know. I really feel like it could be denim related. Like maybe he has, I don't know, a denim addiction. Who knows? All right. Well, to recap the score, Netta, you are at zero points and Naftali, you're at two points. All right. So without further ado, the final question, and to keep this spicy...
19.
I'm probably going to continue my losing streak, but I'm just going to say 21.
Okay, 21. Well, Naftali, you got the Midas touch today. The answer is B, 19. 19. Johannes von Baumbach is 19 years old and heir to the world's largest privately owned pharmaceutical company, to which I say, if I had that much money at 19 years old, Forever 21 never would have gone bankrupt. Let me tell you that. All righty. Well, that is it for But Did You Know?
Congratulations to Naftali on your win.
Thanks. I'm looking forward to the valuable prize that I'm going to get.
Yes. I was like, where are you going to spend your bragging rights?
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