The list of names compiled by the Social Security office is once again released and there are no surprises. It seems couples continue to stick to the norm when choosing names for their children.
Once again Emily continues her reign as the top girls name, her 12th consecutive year at the top. For the boys it was the same story. Jacob still holds the title as the top boys name for the ninth year in the row.
The top ten girls names were the same with one addition. The name Elizabeth has returned to top ten status after two years of absence. The top ten girl names in order are as follows.
Emily, Isabella, Emma, Ava, Madison, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, Hannah and Elizabeth are the most popular.
The top ten boys names will also sound very familiar as they are dominated by Biblical names. The top ten names in order are as follows: Jacob, Michael, Ethan, Joshua, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony, William, Matthew and Andrew.
Twin names were also interesting to research. The Social Security Administration report shows that parents were most likely to combine Jacob with Joshua, Matthew with Michael and Daniel with David. The most popular combination for female twins was Ella and Emma.
On a personal note, the best girl twin names I have ever seen is Leslie and Elise. The mom used the same letters for both girls. I thought it was a creative twist on the traditional rhyming that so many have become accustomed to in society.
I think names are more personal than what is on a list. Despite what I have read about baby names, I don't believe that names are decided on by what is popular at the time. Honestly, I don't believe the average person knows what is popular.
As someone who has a very common name, I know being common is not what parents want for their children for the most part. I think instead something about a name's meaning or it means more as a family tradition.
So I am opening up the question to you? Why did you pick the name you chose? Was it because it was listed as one of the most popular names? Or was it something else?
We got our child's first name out of a book and chose it because it was a very uncommon name. When you grow up as two of the most common names in history, you kind of want your child's namesake to be set apart from everyone else in the world. So we chose what we thought was an uncommon name with a cool meaning, "strong to his faith."
For our second child, we went with something more traditional. A name that is on the list as the most popular, but it was a name that we found in the Bible. It was a name that for personal reasons fit with what we wanted.
Despite what our family and friends thought at the time, we did not name our kids on purpose so that their initials spelled KAT and HAT because we were such big Dr. Seuss fans. Although, if we did, it would have been a personal reason as well.
I guess my view is that these lists, although fun to read, do not really become a deciding factor in naming a baby. I am interested in your thoughts.
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