What's In A Name

By Julia Bollman on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 11:34am

Isabella has taken the crown from Emma, but no one can top Jacob's 11-year stronghold on being the top baby name for boys in the U.S. The Social Security Administration releases its annual list of top baby names every year around this time - Mother's Day - and only three names are new to the top ten lists. Mia is in the top ten for the first time for girls' names, while Noah and Jayden are new to the top ten for boys.

The SSA compiles the top 1000 names for girls and boys each year, but it's the top ten list that gets the most attention. But of note in the larger list are the fastest-rising names in popularity. Among them are Maliyah, Isla, Cullen and King. Among the names dropping most in popularity in 2009 were Lindsay, Brett, Alvin and Jonas.

Now on to the top ten:

10 Most popular names for girls:

1. Isabella

2. Emma

3. Olivia

4. Sophia

5. Ava

6. Emily

7. Madison

8. Abigail

9. Chloe

10. Mia

10 Most popular names for boys:

1. Jacob

2. Ethan

3. Michael

4. Alexander

5. William

6. Joshua

7. Daniel

8. Jayden

9. Noah

10. Anthony

At the www.ssa.gov web site, you can also see how the popularity of certain names has changed over time, and the most popular names for a particular year of birth.

List Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

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by Julia Bollman, publisher of STL Parent

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