Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in July 2016 and became one of the most-watched shows in streaming history. By its final season in 2025, it had accumulated over 200 million viewers worldwide. It was a cultural juggernaut that revived 1980s nostalgia, launched careers, and defined a generation of pop culture references.
And yet when you look at the SSA data, the show barely moved the needle on baby names.
Compare this to Bridgerton, which launched Penelope into the top 100 and revived Eloise. Or Game of Thrones, which produced 434 babies named Khaleesi. Stranger Things — despite running longer, drawing larger audiences, and having more iconic characters — produced almost nothing.
Here's why.
The data: Stranger Things names in SSA
| Character | Name | Pre-show Rank (2014) | 2024 Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eleven/Jane | Jane | #282 | #241 | +41 spots |
| Will Byers | Will | #193 | #175 | +18 spots |
| Lucas Sinclair | Lucas | #35 | #22 | +13 spots |
| Dustin Henderson | Dustin | #627 | #694 | -67 spots |
| Max Mayfield | Max (girls) | #386 | #317 | +69 spots |
| Joyce Byers | Joyce | ~#1,100 | ~#1,200 | declining |
| Jim Hopper | Hopper | — | ~#1,800 | minimal |
| Robin Buckley | Robin | #447 | #391 | +56 spots |
None of these movements are large enough to attribute primarily to Stranger Things. Lucas was already rising for unrelated reasons. Max for girls was already trending. Dustin is declining despite the show.
Why Eleven couldn't be tracked
Eleven — not in SSA data.
Eleven (Jane Hopper / Jane Ives) is the most iconic character in the show. She's also one of the most famous names in streaming history that never became a real baby name, for an obvious reason: "Eleven" is a number, and the Social Security Administration tracks names, not numbers.
There are probably a few dozen babies named Eleven in America each year, but they don't show up in SSA statistics in any meaningful way. Even the character's real name, Jane, only rose modestly — Jane went from #282 (2014) to #241 (2024), a modest improvement that predates the show and continues a slow vintage revival trend (see vintage-girl-names-comeback).
Lucas: rising, but not because of the show
Lucas — Boys #22, 11,280 babies in 2024.
Lucas Sinclair is the fast-talking, loyal member of the core group. But Lucas's rise in the SSA data has nothing to do with Stranger Things.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | #51 | 6,821 |
| 2010 | #40 | 8,203 |
| 2014 | #35 | 9,402 |
| 2016 | #29 | 10,115 |
| 2018 | #27 | 10,488 |
| 2020 | #28 | 10,062 |
| 2024 | #22 | 11,280 |
Lucas has been climbing since the early 2000s. It was already at #35 when Stranger Things premiered. The acceleration after 2016 is real but small — Lucas was going to enter the top 25 regardless. This is the same pattern as Rachel and Friends (see friends-names) — a name was already trending, a show came along, and the show got credit for a movement that was happening anyway.
Dustin: no revival despite the love
Dustin — Boys #694, 402 babies in 2024.
Dustin Henderson is arguably the fan-favorite character — funny, lovable, loyal, and quotable. His actor Gaten Matarazzo became genuinely famous. And yet Dustin the name declined throughout the show's run.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | #9 | 28,402 |
| 1994 | #63 | 5,588 |
| 2004 | #241 | 1,354 |
| 2014 | #627 | 462 |
| 2020 | #679 | 392 |
| 2024 | #694 | 402 |
Dustin peaked in 1980 — it's one of the quintessential 1980s boy names, along with Chad, Brad, and Todd. Stranger Things was set in the 1980s precisely to evoke that era, but parents naming babies in 2016-2024 weren't inspired to reach for 1980s names just because a character had one. The show's nostalgia was entertainment, not a naming inspiration.
Max: a slight boost for girls
Max — Girls #317, 1,008 babies in 2024.
Max Mayfield (later Max Hargrove) is the tough, skateboarding girl who joins the group in Season 2. Among the Stranger Things cast, Max has had the clearest naming impact — but even here, it's subtle.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #386 | 750 |
| 2016 | #341 | 895 |
| 2018 | #310 | 1,012 |
| 2020 | #280 | 1,142 |
| 2022 | #306 | 1,020 |
| 2024 | #317 | 1,008 |
Max for girls was already rising before the show, continued to rise during it, and is now slightly declining. The show likely helped — Max is a gender-neutral name that fits the tomboyish, fierce character well — but the effect was probably 100-200 extra babies per year, not the thousands that Arya or Khaleesi generated.
Why didn't the show move names?
Several factors explain why Stranger Things had less naming impact than comparable cultural phenomena:
1. The names were too 1980s. Will, Dustin, Mike, Joyce — these names peak in the parents' own childhood. Parents avoid names that feel like their own classmates' names. The nostalgia baked into the show's premise was also baked into the character names.
2. No aspirational names. Bridgerton succeeded because its names (Penelope, Eloise, Daphne) felt beautiful and aspirational — names parents could see themselves choosing. Stranger Things' names felt more like character costumes than names you'd give a baby.
3. Eleven set the anchor. The most famous character's name literally cannot be a baby name. This may have reduced the naming-inspiration conversation around the show as a whole.
4. The show was set in the past. Parents draw naming inspiration from shows that feel forward-looking or timeless, not ones anchored to a specific decade (even a beloved one). Game of Thrones and Bridgerton both feel like they exist in their own timeless worlds rather than a specific historical moment.
See bridgerton-names, game-of-thrones-names, and taylor-swift-names for more on how pop culture does and doesn't affect baby naming.