Color names are one of the oldest naming traditions in the English language — names derived from colors, gems, and natural pigments. The trend isn't new. But which colors are in fashion shifts generation by generation, and the current color names are climbing faster than almost any other category.
The 2024 top color names
| Name | Color | 2024 Rank | 2000 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violet | purple/blue | #15 | #734 |
| Hazel | brown/green | #19 | #893 |
| Scarlett | red | #27 | #942 |
| Ruby | deep red | #63 | #258 |
| Iris | rainbow/purple | #71 | #414 |
| Jade | green | #84 | #116 |
| Rose | pink/red | #115 | #299 |
| Ember | orange-red | #137 | #2,289 |
| Sienna | reddish-brown | #139 | #621 |
| Sage | gray-green | #146 | #489 |
| Olive | green | #171 | #3,715 |
| Rosie | pink | #311 | #1,741 |
Violet — the biggest color-name climb
Violet — Girls #15 (6,972 babies). Named for the color of the violet flower — a blue-purple hue. Violet was #734 in 2000 with just 316 babies. It has climbed to #15 with nearly 7,000.
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2000 | #734 |
| 2010 | #123 |
| 2015 | #50 |
| 2020 | #37 |
| 2024 | #15 |
The Violet surge is part of both the color-name trend and the vintage-name revival — Violet was popular in the early 20th century, fell through the mid-century, and is now at its highest point in SSA data. See skip-generation names.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck naming their daughter Violet in 2005 gave the name an early boost. But the sustained 20-year climb reflects deeper cultural appeal: purple/violet is the color most associated with creativity, uniqueness, and mystery — values that resonate with parents seeking distinctive names.
Scarlett — from rare to top-30
Scarlett — Girls #27 (5,894 babies). The bright red color, named ultimately from the Latin scarlatum (scarlet cloth). Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939) kept the name visible through the 20th century.
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2000 | #942 |
| 2010 | #115 |
| 2015 | #22 |
| 2020 | #21 |
| 2024 | #27 |
Scarlett has slightly eased from its 2015–2020 peak but remains in the top 30. The rise of Scarlett Johansson (born 1984, first major film roles in the early 2000s) parallels the naming surge — her career made Scarlett feel like a glamorous, sophisticated name rather than an old Southern belle one.
Ruby — the red gem
Ruby — Girls #63 (3,517 babies). The deep red gemstone (from Latin rubeus, red). Ruby was at #258 in 2000 and has climbed steadily to #63. The climb is slower and more consistent than Violet or Scarlett — Ruby was never dramatically rare, just underused.
Ruby is simultaneously a color name, a gemstone name, and a vintage 1900s name making a comeback — three overlapping tailwinds. It's also a common name in the UK (top 10 in England and Wales), where the revival started earlier.
Iris — the rainbow name
Iris — Girls #71 (3,124 babies). In Greek mythology, Iris was the goddess of the rainbow; the word iris comes from Greek Ιρις (rainbow). The name covers every color simultaneously — making it the most versatile of the color names.
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2000 | #414 |
| 2010 | #315 |
| 2015 | #216 |
| 2020 | #127 |
| 2024 | #71 |
Iris has also been climbing in the UK, Australia, and across Scandinavia — part of the same botanical/mythological name revival that's driving Violet, Hazel, and Ruby.
Hazel — green-brown, the gem case
Hazel — Girls #19 (6,401 babies). The hazel tree produces distinctive green-to-brown nuts and foliage; hazel is the name for a warm brown-green eye color. Hazel went from #893 in 2000 to #19 in 2024. The full story of Hazel's revival — from its 1920s peak through obscurity in the 1980s to its current top-20 position — is the paradigm case of the skip-generation revival. See skip-generation names.
Ember — glowing coal
Ember — Girls #137 (2,172 babies). Old English ǣmerge: the glowing coal or cinder left after fire — that specific deep orange-red that fire turns to when it fades. Ember is one of the fastest-rising color-adjacent names in the dataset:
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2000 | #2,289 |
| 2010 | #824 |
| 2015 | #366 |
| 2020 | #187 |
| 2024 | #137 |
Ember has the warm, glowing sound quality that's driving names like Amber (in its original appeal) and names like Ember are in a direct line from the fire aesthetic. The single-syllable alternative to the more elaborate Scarlett.
Sienna — the Italian pigment city
Sienna — Girls #139 (2,113 babies). The color sienna comes from terra di Siena (earth of Siena) — a natural ochre pigment from the clay-rich soil near Siena, Italy. Raw sienna is a warm brownish-yellow; burnt sienna (heated) is the deep reddish-brown that most people recognize from the Crayola crayon.
Sienna was #621 in 2000 and is #139 in 2024 — a substantial climb. Sienna Miller (the British actress, born 1981, rose to fame ~2004) drove early awareness. The Italian place-name quality gives Sienna an additional backing beyond just the color. See Italian names.
Sage — gray-green herb and color
Sage — Girls #146 (1,987 babies), Boys #413 (779 babies). The sage plant produces distinctive silvery-green foliage; "sage green" is a muted, dusty color that's been dominant in interior design through the 2020s. Sage is simultaneously a color name, an herb name, and a word meaning wisdom.
| Year | Girls Rank | Boys Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #489 | #543 |
| 2010 | #471 | #813 |
| 2020 | #223 | #436 |
| 2024 | #146 | #413 |
Sage is one of the most successful gender-neutral names in the color category. See gender-neutral names.
The fallen color name: Amber
Amber — Girls #541 (558 babies). Amber is the fossilized tree resin that produces a warm golden-orange color. In 2000, Amber was #47 with 6,181 babies — a top-50 name. In 2024, it's #541 with 558 babies.
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2000 | #47 |
| 2010 | #222 |
| 2015 | #334 |
| 2020 | #510 |
| 2024 | #541 |
Amber peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It's now firmly identified as a "Gen X or early Millennial" name — parents in 2024 who might consider Amber are the right age to be named Amber, which creates the association problem. A name that a generation's parents were named doesn't feel fresh.
The Amber Alert system (established 1996, named after Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abduction victim) created a permanent association with child abduction warnings that further complicated the name.
And the 2022 Amber Heard–Johnny Depp defamation trial put Amber in the news in a distinctly negative context for months.
Amber is the cautionary tale: a color name that was fresh and vibrant in one generation becomes dated in the next.
Onyx — the dark outlier
Onyx — Boys #358 (927 babies), Girls #1,248 (186 babies). Onyx is a black-and-white banded variety of chalcedony — in common use, it refers to the deep black gemstone. A name that didn't register at all in 2000 (about 21 male babies and 12 female babies) is now approaching the top 350 for boys.
Onyx represents a different aesthetic from the soft botanical color names: it's dark, bold, and unconventional. The rise of Onyx tracks with the broader trend toward unusual, powerful-sounding names that aren't traditional at all. See hidden gem names.
The color name pattern
What's rising: colors associated with nature (Violet, Hazel, Sage, Olive, Ember) and precious gems (Ruby, Jade, Onyx, Ivory). Rich, saturated, specific colors.
What's falling: the 1980s–90s color names (Amber, Crystal, Tiffany, Tracy) that now read as their generation.
The botanical overlap: the biggest color names (Violet, Hazel, Iris) are also botanical names — flowers, trees, or plants. The overlapping category is driving double momentum.
The gem angle: Ruby, Jade, Ivory, and Onyx are gemstone names first and color names second. The gem-name trend has its own momentum — see gemstone names.
Explore: Violet · Scarlett · Ruby · Iris · Hazel · Sage · Sienna · Amber
Data: SSA 2000 and 2024 US releases.