For several years I've been following and writing about trends in baby names. Each year I look forward to scanning the new list of most popular baby names. It's put out annually by the Social Security Administration, and I believe it is released just before Mother's Day for the previous year. So, it will be a few more months before that list is available.
However, another list I've looked over in the past is the list of top names on BabyCenter.com. The Web site's list for 2008 is up and has announced Aiden and Emma as the top names of their site users.
One thing I find interesting is the large discrepancy between the two lists. The last list from the Social Security Administration in 2007 showed Jacob and Emily as the leaders. Jacob has been the top boy name since 1999.
Emily has been the top girl name since 1996.
I realize the SSA's list is compiled of overall names on actual Social Security card application forms, but I know a lot more girls named Emma than Emily that have been born since 1996 and I know as many Aidens as I do Jacobs born since 1999. According to the SSA, neither Emma nor Aiden has been in the top slot.
Emma didn't even make it into SSA's top 10 until 2002 and slipped from 2 to 3 in 2007. Aiden didn't break the top 100 until 2003 and now sits at 27, its highest rank yet.
I suppose there are several reasons for this, one being the region we live in. Once you start looking further at the trends, I find it really interesting to see where names rank in different areas. On the SSA Web site (ssa.gov), you can search by state to see the top five names.
On the SSA list, Emma is the top girl name in Indiana. For Illinois, it's Isabella. Both states had Olivia and Ava in their top 10 and Illinois had Emily as number three. Most other Midwestern states listed Ava as the top girl name. As for boys, Indiana's top name is Jacob, while in Illinois it is Daniel. Only one other state, California, listed Daniel as a top name. Many states had William, Ethan and Michael as most popular boy's name. In Texas, the Mexican influence and Hispanic population have Jose beating out Jacob as the top name.
Other Midwestern states favored Ethan and Jacob.
The trends in recent years seem to have gone toward more unusual, uncommon, exotic and ethnic names making up a larger pool of baby names, rather than the same few traditional names being used over and over. According to BabyCenter.com, the classics are moving up on the lists and we'll be seeing more boys named Samuel and Oliver and more girls named Victoria and Sophie.
The opinions are solely those of the writer.
