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Babycenter's Top 100 Baby Names of 2010

Our guy's name, Nolan, is on the list this year. Definitely lots of names ending in the letter N. This is always interesting to me. It's amazing how much of this is regional. I'm in Southeast PA and there are a lot of names at the top of the list that I haven't come across in real life yet or have heard rarely.
 
Cool link.

Two of my fantasy girl's names are in the top ten but my fantasy boys name is nowhere to be seen :praise:
 
I'm with you, Steal. Fantasy boy name is nowhere to be found on that list, and I've never met another one. :Up_to_something:

In terms of girl names . . . haven't even thought of them, but need something starting with W to carry on DH's family tradition. . . . but, that's puttin' the cart waaaaay before the horse. 8)
 
I don't think my kids' names will ever be in the top 100, but we'll see.
 
Neither of my kids' names are on the top 100, and none of the "what if" names are either.
 
When we chose the name Lily, we had never known ANYONE with the name who was under 80 years old. Apparently, in every other part of the nation, it's very popular. Looks like we'll be having Lily Last Initial in classes! It's interesting to see the old-fashioned names rising quickly. They've always been my favs!
 
They're still pretty different from the UK top 100 - 3 of the girls names are in both top 10's and none of the boys names.

Reading the article I really hope not too many people are calling their daughter 'Bristol' or at least if they do that their daughter never sets foot in the UK - bristol is a slang word for boobs...
 
Here are the UK top names for 2009 (our lists are published a year late as they are done by the Office for National Statistics)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/oct/27/baby-names-children-oliver-olivia

Top 10:
Girls
1 Olivia
2 Ruby
3 Chloe
4 Emily
5 Sophie
6 Jessica
7 Grace
8 Lily
9 Amelia
10 Evie

Boys
1 Oliver
2 Jack
3 Harry
4 Alfie
5 Joshua
6 Thomas
7 Charlie
8 William
9 James
10 Daniel

Daisy came in at No. 18, Xanthe & Pandora didn't even make the top 500...
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/oct/27/baby-names-children-oliver-olivia

Top 10:
Girls
1 Olivia
2 Ruby
3 Chloe
4 Emily
5 Sophie
6 Jessica
7 Grace
8 Lily
9 Amelia
10 Evie

Boys
1 Oliver
2 Jack
3 Harry
4 Alfie
5 Joshua
6 Thomas
7 Charlie
8 William
9 James
10 Daniel

So Emma isn't in the top 10 :confused: I thought that would be a staple. None of my fantasy names make the UK list.

BTW: I think kids should not really be given a shortened version of their name, I would choose to give them the complete full version and then they can choose to shorten it as and if they see to. I mention this seeing Alfie on the boys list. Not really any place name wise to go from there... Alf :confused: :errrr:
 
Steal, if you go to the ONS site they have the full list of ALL 2009 names except those where only 1 or 2 people chose the name.

Some of them are beyond hideous... also can't believe that 3 people named their daughter 'Unique'... :knockout:
 
I don't do names that are trendeigh, ukneeque or specific to a generation. No top 10 names.

My kids' names rank in at:

Grace: 29
Evangeline: not on the list!
Duncan: not on the list!
Henry: 61

Theodore, Sebastien, Matilda, and Ruby are not on the list. Oliver ranks in at 68. Those are our top contenders for the next baby. Other names we considered in the past: Guinevere, Genevieve, Penelope, and Annabel. Only Annabel is on the list.
 
I knew when we picked our daughter's name that it would be popular for quite some time. As it was, she had a cousin in Chile named Sophia, my friend's daughter's name is Sophia (a few months older), 3 other acquaintances with Sophias and a handful of coworkers.

We were at the park last week and there were 2 other Sophias there. It's like that everywhere we go.

But I love the name, always have :love:

Just to give you a taste of my tastes :cheeky: our other 2 contenders were Emily (12) and Isabelle (2)
 
Savannah is at 59 and Grayson is 66.
 
I'm so interested in how names change and evolve - i personally was born in the 70s, and my name was #2 for my year. Honestly, I like my name just fine as an adult, but growing up it was VERY irritating to be one of so many with the same name. In my 9th grade math class of 20 kids, there were 4 with my name.

If i ever do have kids, I probably won't pick something outrageous for my child, but I will NOT choose something from the top ten for sure.
 
Fiery, Sophia's name is popular because it is beautiful.

Popular now is different than years ago, because so many parents strive to select unique names those that are popular aren't used as frequently. As a substitute I've never been in a classroom where more than 2 children shared a name, and I've been in a lot of classrooms.

I wonder how accurate this list is, considering it's early December 2010, it will be interesting to compare it to the social security list that comes out in the spring.
 
Thanks Pandora - I'll have a look.

Fiery: I love the name Sophia, for me I think Sophia Loren. :love:

pennquaker09|1291557989|2787761 said:
Savannah is at 59 and Grayson is 66.
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I love everything American sounding and these names are so wonderfully American if we ever get there I wish DH would allow me to use something similar (even as a middle name). Nice choices. BTW: Would you call Savannah by a nickname or shorten her name at all?
 
LuxAeterna|1291513949|2787541 said:
I don't do names that are trendeigh, ukneeque or specific to a generation. No top 10 names.

My kids' names rank in at:

Grace: 29
Evangeline: not on the list!
Duncan: not on the list!
Henry: 61

Theodore, Sebastien, Matilda, and Ruby are not on the list. Oliver ranks in at 68. Those are our top contenders for the next baby. Other names we considered in the past: Guinevere, Genevieve, Penelope, and Annabel. Only Annabel is on the list.
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Maybe you're subconciously British? All your choices are pretty high up on the UK lists, especially Theodore (138), Sebastian (62), Matilda (46) and Ruby (2). Oliver is no.1 and has been in the top 10 here for as long as I can remember. I know about 5 Matilda's - I was very keen to use it but DH vetoed and then his brother called his daughter Tilly which is what I would have shortened Matilda to so that's it ruled out...

Your others:
Guinevere (not used in 2009)
Genevieve (460)
Penelope (328)
Annabel (122)

Duncan (868)
Henry (37)
Evangeline (310)
 
violet3|1291560197|2787777 said:
I'm so interested in how names change and evolve - i personally was born in the 70s, and my name was #2 for my year. Honestly, I like my name just fine as an adult, but growing up it was VERY irritating to be one of so many with the same name. In my 9th grade math class of 20 kids, there were 4 with my name.

If i ever do have kids, I probably won't pick something outrageous for my child, but I will NOT choose something from the top ten for sure.
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This! There have always been 3 people with my name - Laura - or at least a version of it (like Lauren or Laurie) in every single year of classes (my HS class and college major were only 60 people and both has 3 Laura/Laurens as well). I like my name now, but I was so annoyed with it growing up. I really love a lot of the top 10 girl names though (Olivia, Ava, Emma), so I'm hoping they drop down the list by the time I'm ready to have a kid. For boys, I really love Henry, so I have to hope it doesn't rise to top 10 status.
 
Elrohwen|1291573599|2787984 said:
violet3|1291560197|2787777 said:
I'm so interested in how names change and evolve - i personally was born in the 70s, and my name was #2 for my year. Honestly, I like my name just fine as an adult, but growing up it was VERY irritating to be one of so many with the same name. In my 9th grade math class of 20 kids, there were 4 with my name.

If i ever do have kids, I probably won't pick something outrageous for my child, but I will NOT choose something from the top ten for sure.
Click to expand...


This! There have always been 3 people with my name - Laura - or at least a version of it (like Lauren or Laurie) in every single year of classes (my HS class and college major were only 60 people and both has 3 Laura/Laurens as well). I like my name now, but I was so annoyed with it growing up. I really love a lot of the top 10 girl names though (Olivia, Ava, Emma), so I'm hoping they drop down the list by the time I'm ready to have a kid. For boys, I really love Henry, so I have to hope it doesn't rise to top 10 status.
Click to expand...

I love these names as well, but i think there's a reason why we are drawn to them -- i read a fascinating article on name trends and how they evolve (wish I could remember what it was). It was all about the sounds of the name and how and why they become popular -- if you notice, all three of the names you listed end in "a," as do so many on the popular name list. When my cousin ahsley was born, everything was ending in "y" or "ey" - brittany, ashley, lindsey etc. It's really really interesting!

maybe it's like fashion trends....innovative people like the name first. Perhaps it takes a while to catch on with the masses, but eventually you find yourself really liking the trend. there are so many things that i said i would never wear, but love now. strange analogy, but that's how it seems to me.

You even will start to see really old, outdated names coming back into style - just as the 70's bell bottom jeans came through in the 90s, and to an extent the 80s are slightly present in this decade, with leggings, jeggings etc. I'm fascinated :)
 
I think the media have a huge hand in names - I found an article looking at the UK top 100's over the last century and until the 1980's the names were all very traditional and changed very little. Then suddenly a whole rash of new names came in. Allowing parents to register shortened versions of names contributed to this - for example 'Alfie' is very popular at the moment, but 'Alfred' is not, ditto with 'Milly/Millie' but not 'Millicent' from which it is derived - but a lot must have been through exposure to names from America and other countries and celebrity and film names.

In the USA, Mary and Helen topped the lists for decade after decade and now they're not common at all.

I was born in the early 70's and when I think of my classmates, most of them were Catherine, Sarah, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Victoria, Emma etc - I don't recall anything particularly unusual. Now there is a very wide range.

Freakonomics had a very interesting discussion on names and how they filter downwards much as you wrote. The innovative and leaders in society name their child x and it gradually filters down.
 
Woas sigh of relief there- I was hoping my son's name would not be in the top 100. I have such a common name (and common last name) that I didn't want to do that to my kids. The girls name i had picked out is also no where on that list!! yay!
 
My daughters' old lady names come in at #7 (Lily) and #56 (Lucy). I get it with Lily--it's become very popular but it's a name I have loved since the beginning of time and we actually don't know anyone else with that name so I'm fine with it. I'm surprised to see Lucy making such a comeback.
 
Pandora|1291594474|2788299 said:
I think the media have a huge hand in names - I found an article looking at the UK top 100's over the last century and until the 1980's the names were all very traditional and changed very little. Then suddenly a whole rash of new names came in. Allowing parents to register shortened versions of names contributed to this - for example 'Alfie' is very popular at the moment, but 'Alfred' is not, ditto with 'Milly/Millie' but not 'Millicent' from which it is derived - but a lot must have been through exposure to names from America and other countries and celebrity and film names.

In the USA, Mary and Helen topped the lists for decade after decade and now they're not common at all.

I was born in the early 70's and when I think of my classmates, most of them were Catherine, Sarah, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Victoria, Emma etc - I don't recall anything particularly unusual. Now there is a very wide range.

Freakonomics had a very interesting discussion on names and how they filter downwards much as you wrote. The innovative and leaders in society name their child x and it gradually filters down.
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Pandora - i think that was it! I couldn't remember and it's been a while :appl:
 
Weird. So many names on there I consider "unusual", yet at the same time know kids with those names, just assumed it was the demographic I live in.

My coworker who had her baby like 3 weeks ago named him Aiden. I didn't realize it was that popular of a name.
And I always loved the name Sophie or Sophia (means wisdom) but I knew other kids with that name and so steered away from it.

My second child's name is on the (top 100) list, which I'm surprised because I didn't think of it as a common name. Common is relative. I think although the rankings of the name say they are popular, I doubt the same number or percentage of kids are named those popular names as say back in the day Mary or Susan, or John or David. But I could be wrong.
 
For what it's worth, this babycenter list is skewed because it only counts the names reported by their readers. I use the data from social security (released each May for the previous year) to really look at the name popularity. The lists are similar but definitely not identical when you compare the 2009 names.

Part gypsy, you're definitely right that even the most popular names today don't come close to the most popular names of the past. For instance, the most popular names for boys and girls in 2009 (Jacob and Isabella) were used for 0.99 and 1.10% of births, respectively. If you look at 1970 (Michael and Jennifer) they were used for 4.48 and 2.52% of births! And if you go back to 1900 John and Mary were used for 6.06 and 5.26% of births.

And thus ends my nerding out over baby names...I just find the evolution of trends in names super interesting, it's the scientist in me!
 
There's also some website ... I can't remember the name, but you can look up the top names by birth at your local hospital! It's only hospitals that report but most of our local ones were on there. The funny thing was that our son's name was not high on any top 100 lists (I think it's in the 30 or 40 range) but it was in the top 10 of like 2 of our local hospitals. So regional naming trends might interest some people! If I think of that website I"ll post it.
 
Just wanted to add that if you are the US, you can look up the most popular names by state (according to Social Security records). I know the name I want to give to my possible daughter is on there in the top ten, but I have never met anyone with that name or heard any other babies with that name in this area. When I cross checked in my area, then name was only in the top 30, so I feel more comfortable with using it, without feeling like there will be 4 other kids with the same name. :wink2:
 
Can you share the name DC??? :naughty:
 
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