Charted: America’s Most Popular Baby Names in 2023

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Charted:America’s Most Popular Baby Names in 2023

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” — William Shakespeare

Most parents disagree with Shakespeare of course, and there are entire forums dedicated to baby name discussions. With concerns ranging from appropriateness, to “right fits”, to honoring heritage and legacies, what are the most popular baby names right now?

We chart the top 10 male and female names of 2023, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. Data is based on Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

Ranked: America’s Top Baby Boy Names in 2023

“Liam” is not only America’s most popular baby boy name in 2023 (nearly 21,000 babies named) but has been America’s most popular baby boy name since 2017.

Here’s a list of America’s top 20 most popular male baby names in 2023.

RankMale nameBoys Named (2023) 1Liam20,802 2Noah18,995 3Oliver14,741 4James11,670 5Elijah11,452 6Mateo11,229 7Theodore11,041 8Henry10,941 9Lucas10,842 10William10,598 11Benjamin10,172 12Levi9,347 13Sebastian8,865 14Jack8,683 15Ezra8,437 16Michael8,383 17Daniel8,356 18Leo8,120 19Owen7,985 20Samuel7,973

Going back even further through the records however, there’s been a clear upward trend in “Liam’s” popularity since 1992. Between 2008 and 2012, it leapt from 75th to 6th most popular name in the country. As it happens, the massively popular Taken franchise was released in the same time period—starring Irish actor Liam Neeson.

Meanwhile, second place “Noah” has already enjoyed being the most popular name in the U.S. for a boy, reigning between 2013–2016.

Ranked: America’s Most Popular Baby Girl Names in 2023

For baby girls, “Olivia” is the most popular name in America in 2023. Like its male counterpart, “Olivia” has been the top pick for parents since 2019, and has been present in

The SEC ruling on Ethereum ETFs could mark a historic shift in crypto investing

VanEck CEO Jan van Eck sees a major sentiment shift underway in the cryptocurrency market linked to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of a rule change allowing for Ethereum exchange-traded funds.

“This is really one of the most amazing things that I’ve seen in my career with respect to securities regulation,” van Eck told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. 

VanEck was the first to apply to the SEC for permission to list its proposed Ethereum ETF. With that first hurdle cleared, VanEck can begin the process of bringing the product to market, though the exact timeline is unclear.

“There was a real risk that the SEC was going to lose any kind of jurisdiction over digital assets. So the first reaction was to get the ETF, Ethereum ETF approval green lighted,” he said. “But I think there’s a bigger narrative going on as well.”

To van Eck, the buzz around Ethereum this May means clearer regulation on the horizon and an increased investor interest in crypto. In a statement on its website, his company said that “the evidence clearly shows that ETH is a decentralized commodity, not a security.”

Van Eck said the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, or FIT21, passing in the House on May 8 was another major step toward regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies, even though he is doubtful it will make it to the Senate before the election.

Ether spiked on the SEC’s approval of applications to list Ethereum ETFs on May 23, but is virtually flat since then.

Disclaimer

CNBC

Italy is bracing for a record wave of tourists, but is having trouble handling them

Tourists line a street in Venice, Italy, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Venice collected €37 million in overnight tourist taxes in 2023, with hotels charging guests anywhere between €1 and €5.  Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy — When boat drivers start complaining about the tourists overrunning this famous lakeside resort, where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce stayed at the Villa Sola Cabiati in Tremezzo two weeks ago after her series of Paris concerts, you know you have a problem. 

“There are days when traffic comes to a stop, you cannot move,” our driver told us. He makes his living driving tourists up and down the lake for the famous views of the mountains and the 19th-century villas like Villa del Balbianello, where parts of “Casino Royale” and “Star Wars: Episode II” were filmed. 

He considers himself fortunate he’s a boat driver: he pities the poor tourists who rent cars or try to find an elusive taxi. 

“Some days it can take an hour to go 10 kilometers [about 6 miles],” he said, noting that the tiny two-lane roads not only can’t handle the traffic, they can’t handle the larger cars that are being built. “Many towns can only have traffic go in one direction, so everyone has to wait,” he said. 

Can’t live with them, can’t live without them

Italy is caught in an envious trap: it can’t live without tourists, but it’s having trouble handling the influx, particularly after Covid. Sixty million tourists flooded the country last year, pumping an enormous amount of money into the economy. Travel and tourism accounted for 10.2% of Italy’s GDP in 2022, according to Statista.  The sector employs approximately 4.4 million people, about 16% of total employment. 

A general picture shows the main facade of the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda on March 30, 2024 in Rome, Italy. Emanuele Cremaschi | Getty Images

The problem of “too many tourists” may seem like a problem a country wants to have, but in recent years the crush of visitors has gotten so bad that Italian authorities have had to take measures to avoid damage to centuries old structures that cannot handle the crush of so many visitors. Venice has been charging 5 euros to enter the city for day travelers not staying overnight, for example. 

Want to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in Milan? Good

CNBC

Mapped: The World’s Largest Armies in 2024

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June 1, 2024

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Mapped: The World’s Largest Armies in 2024

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Despite being considered the biggest military force in the world, the United States doesn’t have the largest army in terms of personnel.

This graphic shows the top 10 countries by military personnel as of May 2024, including active and reserve personnel, as well as paramilitary forces. It is based on estimates from GlobalFirepower.com.

Vietnam, India, and South Korea Have the Biggest Armies

China has the largest standing army, with over 2 million active personnel. With increasing defense spending over the last decades, the country also ranks third in the number of tanks and second in the number of aircraft carriers in service.

When reserve personnel are included, however, the Chinese military falls behind those of Vietnam, India, South Korea, and Russia.

Vietnam’s forces include 600,000 active personnel and over 5 million in reserve. This is because Vietnam, along with countries like South Korea and Israel, has a standing policy of conscription for young adults.

CountryTotal Military Personnel (est.)Region 🇻🇳 Vietnam5.8MAsia 🇮🇳 India5.1MAsia 🇰🇷 South Korea3.8MAsia 🇷🇺 Russia3.6MEurope/Asia 🇨🇳 China3.2MAsia 🇺🇦 Ukraine2.2MEurope 🇺🇸 United States2.1MNorth America 🇰🇵 North Korea2.0MAsia 🇵🇰 Pakistan1.7MAsia 🇮🇷 Iran1.2MMiddle East

Interestingly, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in a massive increase in Ukrainian personnel numbers. Active personnel rose from around 170,000 in 2016 to over 900,000.

Despite not having the largest army, the U.S. accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spending totaling $877 billion.

China ranked second in absolute terms, accounting for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.

Nvidia market cap jumps by $350bn amid ‘gamma squeeze’

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Savings app CEO says 85,000 accounts locked in fintech meltdown: ‘We never imagined a scenario like this’

For three weeks, 85,000 Yotta customers with a combined $112 million in savings have been locked out of their accounts, CEO and co-founder Adam Moelis told CNBC. The disruption, caused by a dispute between fintech middleman Synapse and Tennessee-based Evolve Bank & Trust, has upended lives, Moelis said. “We never imagined a scenario like this could play out and that no regulator would step in and help,” he said. Oscar Wong | Moment | Getty Images

When Adam Moelis co-founded a fintech startup named Yotta in 2019, he wanted to give Americans a new way to save money to help them cushion the ups and downs of life.

Instead, his company has inadvertently been a source of deep pain for thousands of customers who relied on Yotta accounts to receive paychecks, pay bills and save for emergencies.

The crisis began May 11, when a dispute between two of Yotta’s banking partners — fintech middleman Synapse and Tennessee-based Evolve Bank & Trust — led to the lockup of accounts at Yotta and at least two dozen other startups. Synapse declared bankruptcy earlier this year after several key clients abandoned the firm amid disagreements over the tracking of customer funds.

For the past three weeks, 85,000 Yotta customers with a combined $112 million in savings have been locked out of their accounts, Moelis told CNBC. The disruption had upended lives, forced users to borrow money for food and thrown upcoming events like surgeries or weddings into doubt, he said.

“The stories are heartbreaking,” Moelis said. “We never imagined something like this could happen. We worked with banks that are members of the FDIC. We never imagined a scenario like this could play out and that no regulator would step in and help.”

Boom & bust

The ongoing mess has exposed the risks in a corner of fintech that grew in prominence during a boom in venture investment — and it will likely reverberate for years as regulators increase scrutiny of the space.

The so-called “banking as a service” model allowed consumer fintech companies to quickly launch savings accounts and debit services, with firms like Synapse acting as a bridge between the startups and FDIC-backed banks that ultimately held deposits.

The heart of the dispute between Synapse and Evolve Bank involves a foundational function of finance: keeping

CNBC

Book Bits: 1 June 2024

● The Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding
William Hogeland
Summary via publisher (Macmillan)
Forgotten founder” no more, Alexander Hamilton has become a global celebrity. Millions know his name. Millions imagine knowing the man. But what did he really want for the country? What risks did he run in pursuing those vaulting ambitions? Who tried to stop him? How did they fight? It’s ironic that the Hamilton revival has obscured the man’s most dramatic battles and hardest-won achievements—as well as downplaying unsettling aspects of his legacy. Thrilling to the romance of becoming the one-man inventor of a modern nation, our first Treasury secretary fostered growth by engineering an ingenious dynamo—banking, public debt, manufacturing—for concentrating national wealth in the hands of a government-connected elite. Seeking American prosperity, he built American oligarchy. Hence his animus and mutual sense of betrayal with Jefferson and Madison—and his career-long fight to suppress a rowdy egalitarian movement little remembered today: the eighteenth-century white working class.

● Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War
Tom Steyer
Interview with author via Salon.com
It may be unusual to hear the ultra-rich argue for increasing government regulation of the economy, but billionaire Tom Steyer believes such a thing is necessary to stop the onslaught from climate change. Steyer may be best known for his longtime investment in climate solutions, as well as his decision in 2012 to step away from a highly successful investment fund he had founded.
Like many people who pay attention to the overwhelming scientific evidence that humans are causing climate change by burning fossil fuels, as explored in his new book “Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War,” which was released this month. He sees climate changes as a multi-pronged menace, one that causes hardships from mass migration to extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires and droughts.

● Poverty for Profit: How Corporations Get Rich off America’s Poor
Anne Kim
Review via Publishers Weekly
Corporations are taking advantage of sclerotic government to skim money off anti-poverty initiatives, according to this stinging exposé. Lawyer and journalist Kim (Abandoned) probes a raft of ill-designed and poorly supervised federal and state programs that are run or mediated by private businesses that jack up prices and deliver substandard services. They include tax preparers that charge low-income taxpayers exorbitant fees to calculate the tax credits they are due, private prisons that charge inmates hundreds of dollars per day for their

Boom in US penny stock trading prompts warnings of frothy markets

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