The Baby Name Wizard

You can vote for your favorite name among the top 10 girls and boys names of 2007 at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032076/

So far, "I don't like any of these" is winning!

(And yet, many parents of 2007 babies *did* find their favorite in those short lists.)

RobynT--Regarding names based on alcoholic beverages, I had a seventh-grader in one of my classes in LA named Tanqueray. Her middle name according to the attendance list, I kid you not, was Gin.

Giselle has the unfortunate "Jizz" sound at the beginning of it. Middle school is bad enough without the beginning of your name sounding like a slang word for semen.

As usual, I feel like I know scads of preschoolers with the top names, but virtually no new babies.

The Jayden thing is so fascinating to me because it would seem to mark a real shift in how moms feel about gender neutral names-or am I the only one who knows multiple little girls named Jayden/Jalen/Jayda?

I've actually liked Jordan for girls since I read The Great Gatsby in my impressionable teen years.

I don't mind Miley. Don't love it-don't hate. I did have to smile when a friend of a friend named her baby Miley Luna-only because she thought she was being original, and I immediately thought, "Now, there is a name that is spot-on for trends!"

Thanks to everyone for the info. about Noah for girls, btw. As usual, I learned something from you all!

Happy Mother's Day!

I always assumed that the name Aidan was given its huge American boost by Aidan Quinn, who first came to my attention in the 1985 hit "Desperately Seeking Susan" (which also starred Madonna).

I agree with Patricia that it's nice to have the objective data that the SSA provides, especially since there are so many of you who break it down for us lazy (or statistically challenged) folks! The pronunciations of all these names are just so subjective, as several of you have noted with names like Ciara and Mia/Maya. Add in regional accents, and you've got a mess. I once taught students named Tara and Tanya. Contrary to my expectations, Tara pronounced her name Tarra, while Tanya pronounced her name Taan-ya. I constantly butchered their names. Ah, those English vowels!

Patricia, I have to agree with you on combining spellings - it is VERY subjective. One that I'm having trouble with is Cali - should that go with Callie or Kailey? (I put it with Callie.) I'm pretty conservative about combining in my lists. If it's not obvious (to me) that the names are pronounced the same, I leave them separate.

I'm amazed you knew a Jewish boy called Yael, Valerie, are you sure it wasn't Yoel? yael is such a strongly feminie name for me - but then names are swinging this was and that at the moment.

The other new arrival that I particularly noticed was Evie - it's been really strong in the Uk for ages, interesting to see it making it in the US now.

Susan: You know, I like Gin on its own, like Ginny or something... nn for Virginia (which, I am not a fan of). Seems spunky.

ah, what a great discussion!

To clarify my glib comment yesterday- no, I don't think that the SSA should get rid of their current ranking system, and yes, I realise that it would be awfully difficult to come up with the combined rankings. That said, I think there are enough obvious homophones to create a more accurate representation of name use in the US (even if you were to discount Adan, the nine other Aidans give a clearer picture).

And an edit to my comment about the proportion of boys named an -ayden rhyme- it's actually just about 4% of total births, not 5%. Apologies!

I think my next little project will be to look for sound patterns in, say the 1920s lists, because my sense is that the -ayden/ayton, ayley/iley phenomena *is* new, and represents a really interesting shift in American naming practices, but I have nothing to back that up.

I checked my favorite old lady names...including my daughter's name and a lot of the runners up:

Violet -- up about 30 slots (to 231)

Clara -- holding steady, right near Violet--but there are probably some Klaras outside the top 1000 too

Helen and Iris -- stayed in the 300s (though Iris took a 50+ leap)

Penelope -- up 60 slots (to 412)

Edith--actually dropped about 80 slots (to 730)

Elsa--up about 40 slots (to 745)

Louisa, Harriet, Marion, Mabel--nowhere in the top 1000, and they haven't been for years.

I just want to weigh in on the combined spellings. Patricia, you did a great job outlining a lot of the difficulties. Adan is a classic example, but there are many other 2- and even 3- pronunciation names. (For the example Ciara, there are actually THREE pronunciations: like Keira, Sierra and Chiara.) And for tracking trends, there's another huge drawback: different variants have different popularity curves.

So I'm torn -- combining names can be useful, but every attempt I've seen has been suspect. Here's the rationale I gave a few years back for keeping names separate...
http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2005/2/isabel-isobel-isabelle-ide...

...but yet I'm crunching the -aydens too, as you'll see in my next post!

And what about Alicia/Alisha/Alycia/Alysha/Alysia/Alecia/Alesha/Alesia (each of which appears somewhere in NV)? How many pronunciations are there? How could you tell? How would you know even how many "Alicia"s are A-lee-shas vs. A-lish-as vs. A-lee-see-yas vs. A-liss-ee-yas? Is Elisha for girls part of this trend?

...Actually, as a side note, the Elisha graph is interesting if you're looking for different androgyny trends. Amazing what a biblical reference can do for a name!

Can't wait for the next post.

I expected to see Miley on there, but I admit I was shocked it was ranked so high for its debut.

And I do know a little Cyrus -- his older sister is named Scout. Their hip parents would be horrified if anyone thought Cy was named after Miley in any way, shape or form. :)

On another note, I have two daughters -- Avery and Rowan. Avery's name continued to climb to #48 for girls, up from #52 last year. It was interesting to see that Avery dropped for boys - down 10 spots to #221. I wonder if this is the beginning of Laura's theory in action: that once a unisex name is "taken over" by girls, then it is abandoned by parents for boys.

Rowan's name climbed for boys - up 58 spots to #366. But it made a HUGE jump for girls - up 188 spots to #450. Based on the birth numbers, there were only 150 more boys given the name. It will be interesting to see what happens with Rowan in the next few years. It's like watching a race. A very slow one.

(And for the record, I love both names for either sex. For us, Avery is a family name on my mom's side and we simply adored the name Rowan.)

I've only looked at the boy's names (other than to check on DD's name) and from a quick glance I'm left wondering--there are 264 boys named Remington? 453 named Maverick?

Wow.

and I'm still no closer to naming this August baby boy than I was before.

to another amy:

How about Gavin? It was our boy's name and we'll never get to use it. Do you have a list?

So I'm answering Patricia's call to group the new 2007 names into categories. Of course, these groupings are my own opinions, so feel free to disagree! Also, these are only the girl names. I'll let someone else do the boys!

PIGGYBACK NAMES: (My own term.) ADALYN/ADELYN: A shortened version of the uberpopular Madeline and all its spellings. ALIANA: a new twist on the already established favorites on the top 1000 Eliana, Iliana, Juliana, Liliana and Liana. EMMY: Nickname for Emma or Emily, now a stand alone name.

CELEBRITY INSPIRED NAMES – I’ve included the name of the person and the new rank, if significant. AUDRINA (Patridge from the reality show The Hills - #703), CELINE (Dion), GIADA (De Laurentiis, Food Network Host - #840), JASLENE (Gonzalez, America’s Next Top Model - #597), KELIS (Doesn’t use her last name professionally, Hip hop/soul/R&B Grammy winning singer), MILEY/MYLEE/MYLIE (Cyrus - #278!), SHILOH (Jolie-Pitt), IRELAND (Daughter of Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin. In this news this year for a bad answering machine message from Daddy).

PRIMARILY HISPANIC NAMES – AZUL, DELIA, GRACIELA, YAMILET

PRIMARILY AFRICAN AMERICAN NAMES – ZANIYA, ZANIYAH

PRIMARILY CATHOLIC NAME – MARYJANE

PRIMARILY INDIAN NAME - DIYA

PRIMARILY JEWISH NAME - AZARIA

BOY NAMES FOR GIRLS – DEVYN, MARLEN

OLD FASHIONED COMEBACK NAMES – OLIVE (peaked in 1880s), SHIRLEY (peaked in 1930s), DIXIE (peaked in the 1930’s), EVIE (peaked in the 1890’s, or it could be categorized as a nickname for Eve and Evelyn)

NOT ACTUALLY NEWCOMERS – ANTONIA (2006 was the only year it wasn’t in the top 1000), MAREN (debuted in 2005, then fell off in 2006)

SPELLING VARIATIONS OF ALREADY RANKED NAMES: This is the majority of the list. ALANNAH (Alana), ALLYSSA (Alyssa), ALYVIA (Alivia/Olivia), ANABEL (Annabelle), GIULIANA (Juliana), HAYLEIGH (Haley), JAEDA (Jada), JAILYN/ JAYLEN (Jaelyn), JAZLYNN (Jazlyn), JOCELYNN/ JOSELINE (Jocelyn), JORDIN (Jordon), KYLAH (Kyla), LILLIANNA (Liliana), LONDYN (London), MADILYNN (Madeline), MARELY (Marley. It could be pronounced “mair-lee,” but I’m pretty certain it is supposed to be “Marley.”), SKY (Skye)

WORD/PLACE NAMES: Azul, Londyn, Sky, Jordin, Olive, Ireland

WHEW! That was a lot of work!! Going to rest my brain now.

Yael is the name of singer, right? Yael Naim--her song is "New Soul" and I hear it was featured in an apple commercial.

Just for fun. I know a girl with five nephews:

Layton
Gavin
Charles
Aiden
Logan

Any guess which one was from the other side of the family? I just had to laugh.

I love all of this talk and comparing of lists. You guys are so awesome. I only have one comment, a justification for and personal issue with Raiden: it is a legitimate Japanese name (means "lightning" or something), but the Japanese pronounce it kinda like RYE-den. So it may irritate me if I meet someone who named their child "RAYden" but then justify their choice by saying it's Japanese for lightning god.

Insignificant whine of mine, I know.

Great list Tirzah, surely Eliezer fits in the Jewish name category as well.

Thanks Keren! I only did the girl names. Maybe you should do the boys!! ;)

Oh sorry Tirzah! I wouldn't know where to begin with the boys..most of them I'd file under 'American'!!!

Tirzah, your groupings and categorizes for the 'new' names are excellent. I couldn't begin to sort them out.

One very small change I might make is to put Maryjane with your OLD FASHIONED COMEBACK NAMES. I think of Maryjane especially as a popular 1920s through the 1940s name, used by not only Catholic parents but many others too. I checked Maryjane in SSA data and found it there consistently from 1914-1954, with its highest ranking being 462 in 1923. But the name was far more popular than that as many girls were named Mary Jane and always called by the dual name.

The name Maryjane reminds me of the little strap shoes called Mary Janes that were worn by children in the 1920s and beyond (like Christopher Robin wore). Wikipedia describes how children's shoes took on this name: "Mary Jane is an American term (formerly trademarked) for a kind of strap shoe or sandal that typically has low heels, broad and rounded closed toes, and a single-buckle strap across the instep and/or around the ankle... Mary Jane was a character created by Richard Outcault for his comic strip, Buster Brown, which was first published in 1902. She was the sister of the title character, Buster Brown. In 1904, Outcault travelled to the St. Louis World's Fair and sold licenses to up to 200 companies to use the Buster Brown characters to advertise their products. Among them was the Brown Shoe Company, who later hired actors to tour the country, performing as the Buster Brown characters in theaters and stores. This strategy helped the Brown Shoe Company become the most prominently associated brand with the Buster Brown characters. The style of shoe Buster Brown and his sister wore came to be known by her name, Mary Jane."

I think Maryjane is a darling old-fashioned name.

A p.s. to my last post: while Christopher Robin of the 1920s came to mind when I thought of Mary Janes, the Wikipedia article shows that Mary Janes were worn from the early years of the 20th century. I have photos of my father wearing them in 1914. Children were dressed so cute in those days!

Just through reading the aritcle and comments, I have a few thoughts of my own.

My son is named Grady (#341). I can't tell you how many people have asked if that is short for Grayden (Graden? Graydon?). Perhaps that will be the next -Aiden rhyming name!

Speaking of which.... Jayden. It is probably not Britany Spears' influence. Remember that Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf named their son Jaden years ago, as did Will Smith & Jada Pinket-Smith.

I don't know if anyone else has this problem with girl's names ending in -Lee. Like Mylee, Ashlee, Natalee. Whenever I see it, in my mind I pronounce it with the accent on the Lee. So Ashlee, normally pronouned ASH-lee, suddenly seems like ash-LEE. Natalee, supposed to be prounounced NAT-uh-lee in my mind seems like it should be nat-uh-LEE.

Re: Gin as a girl name -- I know a little girl named Jyne (pronounced "Gin"), and a late-50's woman named Virginia who goes by "Ginna" (like Jenna) (I kind of like Ginna! It'd be a cute way to honor a Virginia.)

Blythe: This in no way explains why Azaria suddenly made the list but I thought I'd throw some trivia out there. The name Azaria is rather well known in Australia, but not commonly used. One of Australia's most famous crimes/mysteries was the dissapearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain whilst on a camping trip in the outback. Her family insisted that she was stolen by a dingo (thus the famous saying "dingo ate my baby"). There was a trial by media because the mother was not acting acting how a mourning mother should and she was convicted of murdering the child . The dingo story was eventually confirmed and the mother released.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azaria_Chamberlain_disappearance

I was shocked by Miley, too -- in my combined spelling spreadsheet (which likely suffers from many of the problems discussed above), Miley/Mylee/Mylie ranked #176.

And hey there, Delilah - up 176 spots to #263!

Jennifer - my combined list of the top 20 was the same as yours, with the exception of Olivia and Jasmine being out of place, probably due to different spellings included/excluded.

I'm way too lazy to research this, but my sense is that the ayden/aiden phenomenon may be something of a "perfect storm."
I actually quite like the name Aiden, although I'd avoid it now. I remember first hearing it when other Irish names started getting popular.
The first "other aiden," I remember hearing was Brayden, and then, at least out here, Cade got really popular, but it quickly switched over to Caden. Then came the Jaydens and the rest...
So, I'm thinking maybe the popularity of the sound is a confluence of the Irish influence,the surname sound, and celebrity naming.
I could be completely, totally wrong, however!
Does anyone else have a theory?

Please please please do not bombard Social Security (SSA) with letters re the way they list names!

I love the name list and am glad SSA puts it out. But they are extremely short staffed -- they have been underfunded for years -- since the war in Iraq began. They need to spend their time doing their other work.

Besides, if they listed the names by pronounciation what would us name geeks do for fun?

Thanks Jennifer for the list. Would love to see your top 1000.

Miriam- You are right- the boy I knew was Yoel! Apologies...

Oops! I should have read the comments more carefully before posting, as I see some of you have already done much thoughtful analysis of the aidens.
I'm still liking my theory-half-baked, though it may be!

I'm thinking Hayden's early appearance was a TV blip, rather than part of the larger trend.

"Miriam- You are right- the boy I knew was Yoel! Apologies..."

Valerie, I think it was Keren who suggested Yoel (Joel) as the boy's name. But I am still curious as to where Yael as a boy's name is coming from.

Orthodox Judaism (it would be Orthodox Jews who are likely to give a child a Hebrew name rather than a vernacular equivalent) makes very firm distinctions between what is appropriate for males and for females. Thus, I think it highly unlikely that Orthodox Jews would be calling boys Yael.

SO where is this coming from? Is this a Hispanic name somehow? Or have African-Americans picked up on it? Or is it coincidently a name in another language? Or?

Mari--

our current list:

Edison or Edward (nn Ned) [note: I love Ned, but I'm bored a bit by Edward but its preferable to Edmund. I'm willing to use Ned with Edison, which I like better).

Abraham/Bram (I like just Bram better but DH likes a full formal name. This from a man with a 60s surfer name)

Miles

Zechariah (nn Zeke--ok, this is one I love but DH isn't with me. he wants Otis or Onslow.)

Gabriel/Gabe (probably not going to happen b/c DH's cousin used this name. and DH cares. but it was the boy name we picked out for DD)

I kind of like Theodore but I'm not much on Ted or Theo.

Names we've cut out b/c of issues with last name:
Jasper, Augustin (Gus)
DH's last name ends in 'er', has an s in the middle so even Miles I think will have to be cut out. It also starts with a vowel (E, but pronounced EYE) so names that are too vowel-y are strange as well.

I'm just not thrilled with my options. Luckily the kid isn't due until August.

Another Amy: Somebody in the newest post mentioned all the -bert names including Gilbert. I would never have thought of it otherwise, but it has a distinguished feel. And I think Gil is a cute nn!

When I hear Gilbert, I can't help but think of Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables books by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Interestingly, when Anne and Gilbert later married they had twins names Blythe and Diana.

I always think of Gilbert Blythe as well--and I always had a crush on him! I ran it by DH though and he wasn't much on it.

However, he's still into August/Augustin, especially after he realized that its in my family, as is Abraham. And we've added Malcolm. I think this is the first time i've been able to get him to really talk about it. He digs Edison.

Is our list all over the place or what?

I have a 2006 Hannah. Her name ranked #8 that year, yet she is the only Hannah at her ENTIRE daycare. She also is the only female in her class who has a top 10 name.

Only one boy in her class has a top ten name-little Ethan-the rest have surnames like Hays, Cole, and Ryan.

Therefore, I think Laura is right. In my experience even the most popular names aren't really that popular anymore.

Interesting discussion about the popularity of the top names. I don't know any Emilys or Emmas or Madisons, but I do know billions of Isabellas and Sophias...and strangely, I know six little girls under the age of 4 named Maeve. What is that all about?

Speaking of Maeve, has anyone heard of a preteen book series called The Beacon Street Girls? My niece is obsessed with the books, which follow the lives of five girls living in Boston. Their names: Maeve, Charlotte, Avery, Isabel and Katani. My daughter Avery plays with little girls with every name except Katani.

another amy:
I think my fav from your list above is Augustin. "Gus" is a perfect anti-ayden name. Very cool.

Name spotting! I was eavesdropping on some college girls discussing their favorite baby names. My poor husband had to be quiet while I listened. Their picks:

Henry
Milo
Ellen, nn Elle--I think people are starting to like the nn Elle
Hudson
Oliver nn Ollie

They also disucussed Blake, but I think as a girl's name--this is perhaps the influence of Gossip Girl?

I normally don't care too much about name rankings (I likes what I likes) but I have to say I felt a twinge of pride upon hearing my youngest's name (Gus, but from Augustus) described as the anti-Ayden. Isn't it curious how strongly we can identify with a few letters? And how much identity those letters contain, both ours and our children's?
I'm sure it's nothing you enthusiasts haven't considered before, just struck me this time...

That is funny about your little Hannah, guest. I haven't met any baby or toddler Hannahs lately, they all tend to be elementary school age. Yet it's #8. I wonder where all the little Hannahs are. Same with Emily and Christopher. I just don't see those names on babies, just older kids.

I look forward to getting a bevy of lap dances from girls named "Miley" in a few years. Nothing like an overused, trendy name and daddy issues to wreck a girl's self-esteem and put her on the road to stripperville...

Why don't they just cut to the chase and name their girls "Stupidfad"?

I really like Lucretia Aeon. All the Gen-Xers will know my who I'm paying homage to...

Raiden is a VERY popular name in video games. Mostly Mortal Kombat (as mentioned above) and Metal Gear. Interesting to see the influence of the kids who grew up playing games influencing the naming.

Madden might also be influenced by John Madden Football videgames which are one of the biggest sellers every year.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's almost as if people are having kids just so they can give them "cool" names.

Soon, this will be outdated and dumb as Tony Danza's tattoo of R. Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" guy, and these poor kids will need therapy.

What a STUPID collaboration of unintelligent people gathering to preen about their precious snowflakes with unique names that will never grow to amount to anything. I laugh at the high level of idiocy, but also am saddened at how dumd our nation has become. If you spent as much time educating these children not to become spoiled brats as you do on thinking of nonsensical names, we would be a lot better off.

It would be great if people would spell their children's names properly.

This trend of adding unnecessary letters, substituting like sounding letters or otherwise making up spellings unrelated to the pronunciation of the name is really pretty trashy.

Funny, you can tell precisely when the 'fark' link to this must have been posted by the snottiness of the comments. There's nothing like the insights of an arrogant 22 year old to enlighten a discussion.