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Just because I haven’t made my mind up about this whole kid thing doesn’t mean I don’t have a few choice monikers stashed away for a rainy day.
So when The New York Times published an article on last year’s most popular baby names, I was pleased to see that my picks weren’t at the top of the list. Something about being an “Ashley” in a second-grade class of, like, seven Ashleys, really scarred me. (Violens, right? Life is so hard.)
Anyway! Moving on … According to the Times piece, “Emma” has knocked “Emily” out of the #1 spot for baby-girl names. Apparently, “[Emma] has ranked in single digits since 2002, as it also did in the late 19th century.”
For the baby boys, “Jacob” continues to lead, as it has since it bumped “Michael” from #1 in ‘98. Interestingly: “Jacob was also the only name to be given to 1 percent or more of the babies born in 2008.”
Despite Barack Obama’s popularity, there were too few baby Baracks to get the name included in the 1,000-most-popular-baby-names ranking. “Sasha” and “Malia,” however, rose to 363rd and 345th, repectively. “Michelle” dropped to 1o3rd — the name was 94th in 2007.
Other notables:
Hillary (as in Clinton) jumped to 715 during last year’s presidential campaign from 961 in 2007. Jayden, which was No. 75 only five years ago, was 11 last year, thanks, in part, to Britney Spears, who chose the name for her son born in 2006.
Aldo recorded the greatest drop among boys’ names, but that was before Brad Pitt played Aldo Raine in the new Quentin Tarantino movie, “Inglourious Basterds.”
Among twins, the most popular names were Jacob and Joshua for boys and Gabriella and Isabella for girls.
In my home state — Texas — the #1 baby-boy name was “Jose,” though on a national level the number of Hispanic baby names has declined, which the Times attributes to “a greater effort at assimilation.”
So — unless you’re a nasty name-hoarder, like me (totally understandable) — what are your picks?
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I’m pretty late on this. I’ve never liked my real name, Alexandra, because everyone around here always pronounced it ” AlexAAAndriUUUUh.” So I always went by Lexie. For girls I’d like: Annelise, Sasha, Lee, Penelope, Lily, Leona, Eliza, Emiliana and Violet. For boys I like Frederick Wolfgang, Gideon, Elliot, Lee, Delano, and Ewan.
I’m way late with this, as well, but I absolutely love my name. Whitney Jane. It’s simple easy, and normal.
If I have girls, their names will include some of these: August, Anne, Kate, Jane (mother’s name), Irene (grandmother’s name), Claire, Hermione (that’s right. I love Harry Potter, and I would totally name my daughter that.), Lee, or Johnny (grandmother in law’s name).
Boys: John, Jack, James, Ford, Sawyer, William, Wyatt, August (I think this is pretty gender neutral, and it is my birth month AND Lonesome Dove is one of my favorite movies), and Patrick (step-father’s name).
I like solid, classic names that are reminiscent of the 1800s or sort of old-fashioned sounding.
I like your name-aesthetic. Good choices.
The names I like are kind of similar in that they are slightly old-fashioned and uncommon (but not weird). Way, way, waaaaay up there somewhere I have them posted.