I'll go first. My number: 39

(I used this site to get my number: http://www.random.org/integers/ )

Girls:

My pick: Lavinia. At first I was surprised to see Lavinia all the way down here, after the exposure it got from Downton Abbey (last year Lavinia was at 35, so not much of a jump). Then I remembered that the second season aired in the U.S. after the New Year, so maybe we'll see more of a bump next year.

Runners up: Artemis, Rosanna, Sonora, Victory, Jeanne, Jemima, Delina. I kind of like Victory as an Anglicized Victoria, the same way Cecily and Felicity are Anglicized Cecilia and Felicia. I've always thought Sonora would be an beautiful choice for someone with a connection to the place. Jemima has probably the greatest disparity between U.S. and U.K. usage of any name. It's really too bad it has such racially-charged connotations in the U.S., because it's so pretty and would fit in beautifully with the current styles. Jeanne to me is the French classic, but I guess to most Americans it's probably an alternate spelling of Jean, which is pretty dated. Artemis is one of those ultimate power-goddess names that I wouldn't be bold enough to use myself, but I'd love to see others use. Rosanna is just pretty, though there are other Rose- names I like better. Delina looks to be one of the many Adelaide/Adeline variants—pretty. I'm surprised to see it ranked so low, as it looks like it could fit nicely into the current trends.

Other observations: Beautiful, as a name—this is rather heavy-handed (though I guess the same can be said for Victory, above). Beyonce is down here. We also have the classics Helene and Dolores, which don't really do it for me. Most of the other names here are creative spellings (Gwenevere, Alainah, Abbygale, Danyelle), inventions (Darielle, Callia), converted surnames (Madigan, Hensley) or nicknames (Fannie, Mimi, Minnie, Tory). There are also some interesting non-western names that I'm not familiar with (Aashi, Eshaal, Rahaf, Vaishnavi), and some others I'm not sure about (Kasia, Kamorah, Liba, Ziya). Anyone have any info on these?

Boys:

Top pick: Percy. I would prefer this as a nickname for Percival or Perseus, but this is a name in its own right (the Percy family are the Earls of Northumberland, a very, very old English aristocratic family whose name comes from a place in Normandy). 

Runners-up: Edric, Merritt, Rufus. I'm not sure I've heard Edric before except as a character in George R. R. Martin's novels, but it looks like an Old English name ("prosperity-ruler"). Could be a cool alternative to Edward/Edmund/Edwin. Merritt is one of the few surname-names that I quite like, though it's not a style I would use myself. I'm actually really surprised to see this one so low. It's holding just about even on the girls' side, with 37 occurrences. It doesn't look like there's any alternate spelling that's competing, either—Merit has very low numbers on both boys' and girls, and Merrit only shows up on the boys' side, also with low numbers. Looks like this could be hidden gem! Rufus is probably a dog name to most people, but I can see the right kid really rocking it (like Rufus Wainwright). 

Other observations: A lot of surnames down here: Andersen, Hanson, Lawton, Morrison, Ridley, Roosevelt (I wonder what they use as a nickname for that? Roose?) Two very mighty names—Vishnu and Pharaoh. We've got the usual creative spellings (Mattox, Maysen, Jaxsyn, Jeremi), and some foreign-language names (Alessio, Geronimo, Demetrios, Mikail, Mateusz, Salim, Pietro). One interesting tidbit here: Roque. Anyone know what this is? Sounds like a French surname... unless it's just a creative spelling of Rock. Another one: Kenyan. Think this is an African pride name, like Kenya, or a variant of the surname Kenyon? And one more: Anibal. Anyone know anything about this? We also have the rhyming Camarion and Tamarion in this set, along with Jamarri.

(Looking back, I wrote a lot here—please feel free to narrow your focus, or to just do one set of girls or boys). 

Random number gave me 119 LOL!

Girls:

Beverly, Flor, Flora, Martina, Sanvi, Yolanda

I would probably go with Flora, although I like Fleur better (and even better before Harry Potter). Beverly & Yolanda are too dated for me, and the others are not my cup of tea.

Boys: 

Canon, Donavan, Ismail, Jariel, Jaysen, Kase, Landan

If I *had* to pick one, it would be between Donanvan and Landan. I prefer both Donovan and Landon. These all seem very non-western (not bad, just not familiar) or misspellings. 

Great game idea!

The random integer generator (thanks for the link) gave me 97, which is good 'cause it keeps the tyranny of choice down:

Abbigale
Acacia
Berlin
Caliyah
Cloe
Ebony
Georgina
Jenessa
Lexy
Starr
Tanvi

Aries
Brant
Clint
Emmit
Evin
Gray
Kahlil
Luc
Martez
Mykel
Neel
Obed
Yeshua

From the girls, my pick depends on whether I'm supposed to take our surname into account. If not, then Georgina wins, hands down. But said surname includes a version of George, so the two would not work together, and I'd be forced to go with Acacia.

The boys I'm having a harder time with: I dislike surnames as given names (Brant, Clint, Gray, and I believe Martez), and creative misspellings (Emmit, Evin, Luc, Mykel, Neel) -- which leaves a few ethnic names that aren't *my* ethnicity (Kahlil, Obed, Yeshua), and one that I just don't know where to put (Aries). If forced, I guess I'd go with Obed -- it's at least Biblical, and doesn't present great pronunciation difficulty.

The thing I found interesting is that for the first time in at least a decade, the percentage of names in the top 1000 actually went UP a fraction, for both boys and girls (72.98 percent overall, compared to 72.87 percent last year).

Using the random integer link, I got 91.

I'm going to group them by styles, the first being Contemporary African-American. I know names like these get a lot of flack, but I really like the music of them. I feel like for the most part, for being invented, the spellings are fairly intuitive, and I'm confident in their pronunciations. I wouldn't use them myself, but I much prefer them to creative spellings of existing names. The only one I'm iffy about is Daniyah, which sounds a bit too much like Denier.

• Cianna, F
• Daniyah, F
• Jalayah, F
• Zakiyah, F
• Travon, M
• Daquan, M

Standard Anglo girl names. Interestingly two respellings of Lanie side by side. I can only suppose other spellings are also why Maisy, Guinevere, and Katelin are down this far. The biggest surprise was Justina, which is a name that seems like it should be more used than it actually is.

• Justina, F
• Katelin, F
• Laynee, F
• Laynie, F
• Maisy, F
• Guinevere, F

Surnames for boys. Again, like Justina, these make me feel like they should be used more than they are. Carver's a lot like Carter, Boone has Daniel Boone and all his frontier glory, Jakoby is a great way to get Jake, and Noble has that cache of being a surname and a virtue name. Hmm.

• Carver, M
• Boone, M
• Jakoby, M
• Noble, M

International Flair/First Generation Americans. Some cultures I recognize, some I don't. I'm very curious about Hadi.

• Neha, F
• Rosalia, F
• Danilo, M
• Hadi, M
• Paulo, M
• Sameer, M

Miscellaneous. I feel like Zayda could be a Jada-esque invention or authentic international. I really kind of like it, though. Anakin has very self-indulgent parents. Cairo is of course a place name, so those namers could have any number of reasons for chosing it.

• Zayda, F
• Anakin, M
• Cairo, M

My favorites are Zayda, Paulo, Rosalia, Guinevere, Boone, Maisy, Justina, and Zakiyah. Not the best sibset in the world, but it would make for a very fun, diverse group.

Oh, and @EVie - Kamorah is a creative spelling of Kimora. There's a quasi-celebrity named Kimora Lee Simmons.

Ok, I picked #78.

There were 22 girl names with 78 babies born, and for me the clear winner was Susannah, which I love and cannot believe there are so few girls being named that these days.  I do not really like any of the others, which include the likes of Adisyn, Batsheva, Meah, and Trinitee.  If I had to pick runners up from this list, it would be Aeris or Marlo, I guess.

There were also 22 boy names for #78.  My definite top choice would be Roan, with honorable mention to Rafe and Noam.  Other options here (getting no honorable mention from me) include Braydin, Chayton, Daylon, Jaydyn, Karsyn, Linkin, and Rhyder.  Marlin was an interesting one, but nms.  Other decent options included Luther and Nikita.

My number (using the same random generator): 65

Girls: Leora

Boys: Benaiah

At this level, there are a lot of spelling variants for both boys and girls, none of which I would use (Dyllan, Tretin; Serina, Kimberlee). 

But I like these more unusual Hebrew names.

Leora also shows up as Liora 36 babies last year. (Since it's transliterated from another alphabet, the English spelling variations don't bother me.)

Ok, I'm going to do another, and I'm going to be bold and take on number 7, doing just girls for now.

This set is actually kind of a gold mine for cool names (though you have to wade through a lot to find them—there are 1,470). I'm going to focus on some of the more interesting themes. 

My top picks: it's a tie, between Marigold and Rosabel. I would actually use these in real life, if I could convince my husband.

We have a lot of double names in this set: Annalucia, Annamay, Annarae, Annasofia, Avaclaire, Chloeanne, Faithmarie, Londonmarie, Oliviamarie, Oliviarose, Sophieanne (most of these are probably hyphenated or double-barreled, not smooshed together like this).

We've also got some elaborations of (relatively) more common names, some creative, some traditional: Adalise, Annalina, Annalyssa, Avaline (Aveline is a legitimate name in its own right, but this strikes me as a creative lengthening of Ava), Marabelle, Christianne, Celestine, Celestia, Diandra.

There are some unusual word-names: Blue (which I would expect to see rise next year, thanks to Blue Ivy Carter); Maverick (which doesn't surprise me on boys, but does on girls); Meridian; Oasis; Peaches; Pearla; Pretty; Solaris; Sonnet; Wisteria; Basil (this is traditional for boys, but also very rare at 44, which makes me think this is a botanical word-name pronounced BAY-sil rather than mistakes from the boys' side); Kyrielle (at first I thought this was made up; then I looked it up, and it's a form of troubadour poetry—quite a pretty meaning, for a name that has a nice sound to it).

Unexpected surname choices for girls: Clark, Hampton, Kendrick, Merrin (I actually know one, and I've always thought it was pretty)

Unexpected place-name choices: Atlantis, Manhattan (I guess it had to happen, after all the Brooklyns), Graceland (for huge Elvis fans), Windsor (for huge royals fans), Dacia (I think this is really pretty, though I have no connection to the region); Caledonia (Roman name for Scotland)

Probably mistakes from the boys' list: Atticus, George, Luke

There's the amusing juxtaposition of Alpha and Omega in the same set. 

Hidden gems: Arabel (I prefer this to Arabella the same way I prefer Isabel to Isabella, but I've never seen it used and I'm actually not sure if it's even traditional); Ondine; Xanthe (a perennial favorite around here, and very rare!); Lisbet, Berit (both pretty Scandinavian classics); Accalia (from the founding of Rome mythology); Christabelle (though I prefer Christabel or Christobel—Christabel is higher-ranked but still very rare at 20, and Christobel doesn't appear at all); Clementina (much rarer than Clementine at 146).

Miscellaneous: Solangel (this looks like a portmanteau of Solange and Angel—I give them genuine creativity props for this); Eudora (still very much an old-lady name to me—not surprised to see it down here); Roseanne (this does surprise me, and I wonder whether Roseanne Barr has something to do with this name being ranked so low. She's a very funny lady, but her image is one that I don't think most people would want to project onto their daughters). 

There are some cool potential sibsets here:

• Kyrielle, Meridian, Solaris, Atlantis and Sonnet
• Diandra, Celestine, Christabelle, Avaline and Accalia
• Xanthe, Ondine, Arabel, Berit and Eudora

The random number generator gave me 74.

Girls:

There were 25 names to choose from.

My choice: Marlena - It sounds a bit dated, but I kind of like it anyway.  The nickname Lena sounds a bit less dated, too.

Runners-up: Katya, Lane - I really like Katya as a nickname for the Catherine-family, but I don't think I could bring myself to use it as a given name.  I like the way Lane sounds, but I prefer names that are clearly feminine or masculine both in sound and print, and Lane/Laine/Layne/etc. is too unisex for me.

The other choices were primarily creative spellings, both of traditional names (e.g. Jenifer, Klaire) and of nontraditional names (e.g. Armoni, Cerenity) (also Adalina, which might be an elaboration of Ada and might be a respelling of Adelina).  Pilar, which I think is a Spanish name, shows up here, as does Ivonne (variant spelling of Yvonne, right?).  There were also a few names that fit the modern invention trend (e.g. Kylin, Angelyn) and a couple that feel like contemporary African-American names to me (Daira, Jariah).  Brighton is the only place name to show up here.

Boys:

There were 19 choices here, and it was much harder to pick something!

My choice: Daren.  It's an alternate spelling, but one I could live with.  Again, a bit dated, but I guess dated doesn't bother me much.

Runners-up: Hiram, Patricio, Paris, Jody, Zac.  Although I like Hiram, I just don't think I could do it as a first name.  If I spoke Spanish or had any ancestors from Spanish-speaking regions, I'd probably have gone with Patricio.  Paris and Jody are too unisex/feminine leaning for me to actually use.  I like Zac as a nickname, but couldn't do it as a full name.

There were a few creative spellings (Ashtyn, Bradly, Iziah, Sylus), a fair number of what I assume are modern inventions (Avion, Breckin, Daylin, Devlin, Rylin), a few miscellaneous names (Ilyas (which Behind the Name tells me is an Arabic version of Elijah?), Yehoshua (Hebrew form of Joshua?), Jamaal (contemporary African-American), and Sky).

Great game EVie! The random generator picked 37 for me.

For girls: Many alternate spellings here and some that seem more boyish (Jentry + Merritt). I took out the names I would absolutely not use and this is what I was left with.

Akilah,F,37; Alesha,F,37; Aurianna,F,37; Aveline,F,37

Brittyn,F,37; Corinna,F,37; Jadalyn,F,37; Kelley,F,37; Marilynn,F,37; Mckynzie,F,37

Mykenzie,F,37; Shealynn,F,37; Sofi,F,37; Tariyah,F,37

I think I would pick Brittyn as the most usuable. The others then rank up pretty evenly.

For boys: Again many respellings. Again, taking out the ones I would absolutely not use (Fermin, Hurley, Nosson, Pax, amongst others) I am left with these-

Abbott,M,37; Bane,M,37; Bram,M,37; Callahan,M,37; Dashel,M,37

Deklyn,M,37; Gryphon,M,37; Jaice,M,37; Jess,M,37; Jevin,M,37

Locke,M,37; Schuyler,M,37; Skylor,M,37; Zackariah,M,37

I would have to pick Bram as the most usuable. Then Abbott, Zackariah, and Gryphon maybe. Many of them would be better suited for middles.

Bram and Brittyn could definitely be a twin sibset.

Oy. I got #100 and the pickins are slim. These are all the names given to 100 babies in 2011:

Girls: Alexys, Alyana, Alycia, Alysia, Amaia, Breanne, Cambree, Citlaly, Estefani, Jayleigh, Kaily, Kameron

Boys: Braylan, Canyon, Deonte, Fredy, Kaine, Kashton, Laith, Lester, Lochlan, Marion, Shannon

Of those names, I bolded the only ones that I would ever even think of using. To me, this seems like quite a motley crew of names, including a whole bunch of alternative spellings and a few completely outdated boys' names. I found it funny that Alycia and Alysia were given to the exact same number of children. And in another life, I might have bolded Breanne, because it's pretty enough, but my husband's name is Brian, so that's definitely a no-go. Alyana is okay, too, but it's just not my style.

Ok, today I'll tackle the boys for number 7. There are 1,207 of them.

One thing that's very noticeable is that as you go down the list, the number of names starting with the letter Z seems to increase tremendously. This seems to be especially true of the boys' list (on the girls' list, it looks like J behaves in a similar way). My guess would be that a lot of parents who are drawn to the high-Scrabble-value letters are also attracted to made-up names, and vice versa; also, that there just aren't that many options for the letter Z, so parents who want to use it but aren't interested in old standards like Zachary have to be more inventive. Maybe later I'll run the numbers.

My top picks: Caspar (the spelling Casper is more popular, but still rare at 54—I guess it's still the friendly ghost to a lot of people), and Wolfe (which I'm really surprised to see here—I would have thought it would be much more popular. Wolf is higher, but also very rare at 25; Wolfgang is beating both at 84, still not very many). I also love some of names in the classical group below, but I would probably not be bold enough to use them.

Observations:

Double-barrels: Angelmiguel, Anthonyjames, Carlosmanuel, Jamesmichael, Jeanmarc, Johnnyray, Johnrobert, Johnryan, Josecarlos, Josejuan, Juanmiguel, Leeanthony, Seanpatrick, Victormanuel 

A ton of unusual surname choices: Andrews (this will constantly get mistaken for Andrew), Ansley (this is totally girl-dominant at 467, ranked #613, probably with Annie as a cute girly nickname), Arlington, Baer, Baird, Bingham, Brackston, Buckley, Burnell, Calloway, Calton, Carroll, Chatham, Dashton, Denham, Dennison, Felton, Ferrell, Fitzgerald, Grantham (could this be the influence of Downton Abbey?), Hensley, Jackman (big Hugh fans? or just searching for a Jackson alternative?), Jessup, Lesley (a bold choice for a boy today), Linford, Mcarthur, Mccartney, Mckinnon, both Meric and Merric, both Mayes and Mays, Mills, Morton, Murdock, Osborne, Perez, Rollins, Stanford, Waverly (girl-dominant at 67), Winfield.

Unusual word-names: Awesome, Bay, Birch, Bow, Bran (though I suppose this is meant as a short form of Brandon), Branch, Caliber, Chaos, Chapel, Chipper, Clever, Covey, Jewel (possibly mistakes from the girls' side?), Magnum (this is going to lead to a lot of condom jokes, I'm afraid), Teak

Place names: Cyprus, Judea, Venice (seems very feminine to me—it's used more for girls, but it's also quite rare at 30), Carmel (same thing, also very rare for girls at 16).

Probable sports homage: Yker (riding the coattails of Iker—it's not on the 2010 list at all), Zinedine, Alcides (which at first I thought was classical, but then I looked it up and practically all the results I found were Latin American athletes—several footballers and a baseball player, as well as a Peruvian football club called Alcides Vigo).

Mistakes from the girls' side: Anna, Antonia, Audrey, Brianna, Clara, Dara (probably? unless it's meant as an Anglicized version of the Irish Darragh), Lily, Maria, Mia, Molly, Valentina, Willow (I assume?) I'm struck at once by how many more girl --> boy mistakes there are than boy --> girl at the same level. I wonder why that is?

There are the usual African-American style creative names, several of which include the element -darius (Kedarius, Ledarius, Rodarius, Rondarius, Sadarius, Zydarius). There are also many international names, including the Arabic cluster of Abdalrahman, Abdellahm, Abdulelah, Abdulmajeed, Abdulraheem, Abdur and a few Nigerian names with the element -chuk- (Chukwuebuka, Chukwunonso, Ebubechukwu)

There is an interesting collection of classical names here: Archimedes, Charon, Chiron, Cleo (which apparently is traditional as a boys' name too, though it read very feminine to me), Constantin, Diogenes, Helios, both Isadore and Isidore, Josephus (a famous Roman-Jewish historian), Jupiter, Kairos, Orestes, Socrates

Miscellaneous: We've got a couple more Old English/Germanic -ric names, Aldric and Ulric. There's a car brand, Audi, which is being used in almost equal numbers for girls (6). There's the Hebrew Elior, which could be a nice alternative to Elliott (though Elior is also androgynous—I've know a girl by that name, nn Ellie of course).  There's Eragon, which must come from the Inheritance Cycle fantasy series. There's Thelonious—clearly Monk homage (apparently his middle name was Sphere—cool!) There's the Scottish Hamish, and the Dutch/Scandinavian Joran (not surprising it's so low, considering the press around Joran van der Sloot—otherwise it should fit right into current trends). There's the stereotypical redneck name, Cletus. There's Aleph, which is clearly Natalie Portman's influence, and Aro, which is probably Twilight's (he's one of the evil vampires). There Alexavior, an interesting portmanteau of Alexander + Xavier (or possibly savior?) And two more: Gable (Not sure how to classify this—historical nickname for Gabriel? Surname? or a style of roof? Could be any of these) and Garth (surprised this is so low—isn't Garth Brooks a famous country singer?)

And I'd like to note the nice coincidence of Chipper and Chiron in this set, as we have a poster with a young Chiron who uses the alias Chipper :)

I got 28. (Great game, by the way! Thanks!) I have selected ones that I thought were particularly interesting.

Boys:

Adonay, Ahaan, Alexandru, Baden, Blain, Brylee (sounds like this should be in the girls' column), Caison, Child (wow!), Copeland (I'm surprised this isn't higher up), Dartagnan (now there's a literary name!), Diamond (I've known girls with this name, but never boys), Django, Domanick, Eh (foreign? or just anticipating the grandparents' reaction?), Freeman, Hadyn (classical music fans), Ikaika, Ilijah, Jaaziel, Jacksen (I'm surprised this isn't higher), Jaxston (too much of a good thing), Kaidin, Kaycen, Keygan, Kinsler, Koy (oy!), Kutter, Kyland, Maddax, Maki, Nason (this is bound to jump a lot with Mason in the #2 spot), Nathyn (I would have expected this on the girls' side), Nolyn, Presten, Raidyn, Rance, Reign (kingly!), Reily, Riddick, Rondell (sounds like a Motown band), Sahib, Sasha, Talmage, Tayvin, Thurston (Howell III, I presume), Tobey (ah, how your star has fallen, Spidey!), True (amen!), Valen, Xaviar (caviar meets Xavier), Zaylan, Zyier

Girls:

Aden, Ailee, Ainsleigh (I'm surprised this is so low), Aletheia, Amarianna, Ambria (I rather like this one), Amity, An (probably a foreign name but I kind of like the idea of giving a child an article for a name), Analis (my guess is this is actually Analís), Angella, Annistyn (creative way to honor Jennifer Aniston?), Ara, Arhianna, Ariyonna,  Atziry (my son had an Athziry in his class last year), Aurielle, Austen (another literary name, a twin to D'artagnan?), Barbie, Beckett (on girls!), Braeleigh, Brecklyn, Britain, Cassidee, Cedar, Dalaney, Dennise, Desiray, Elizabella (as an Elizabeth, I just can't get behind this one), Elizah, Genevie, Georgie, Giavana, Halli, Holli, Jackson (ouch), Jadeyn, Jahaira (there's a little girl with this name in my children's school), Jalea (the Spanish word for "jelly"; I'm assuming this is not given by Spanish-speaking parents), Jaleigha, Jasper (double ouch), Jensen, Kadee, Kandace, Kassidi, Kensey, Kenslie, Kimberli, Kylia, Liliann, Liviana, Lizzy, Lorna, Mackensie, Madasyn, Mairead, Makeyla, Mallori, Maple (a natural twist on Mabel?), Mayli, Mckinleigh, Melodee, Mikiyah, Nana, Natallie, Natalyn, Navy (whee!), Naylah, Nevaya, Nixie, Orla, Peri, Peytan, Pheobe, Pressley, Rhoda, Ryland, Sakina, Saori, September, Shaindel, Shaye, Syniah, Taitum, Taylah, Tehila, Tiarra, Twyla (I've always been fond of this one), Tylah, Wynn, Xaria, Xoe (eek!), Zunairah

Ones I would actually use: None

Ones I like but wouldn't ever use: Ambria, Cedar (although I prefer it for boys), Jasper (for boys), Liliann, Lorna, Naylah, Shaye, Twyla

My absolute favorite, hands down: Eh

I'll do another one! I got 110, and it's a fairly small list.

girls-

• Alasia - I find I have no idea how to pronounce this. Uh-LAY-see-ah? Uh-LAYZH-ah? Ah-LAH-zee-a? I feel kind of bad for these 110 girls for having to constantly explain their names to people like me :(
• Alea - It's fine, if it's a-LEE-a, but I think I'd like it more as a-LAY-ah. But if it's a super creative Ay-lee, I think I might hate it.
• Emelyn - Nope.
• Madisen - Of course.
• Maryah - Again, pronunciation makes all the difference to me. If it's MAR-yuh or rhyming with Daria, I like it, Mah-RYE-uh, it's fine, but if it's a creative spelling of Maria, it's terrible. I do like the way it looks, though, which I can't say about a lot of girl names right now.
• Sandy - I actually laughed seeing Sandy among these. I like it much more as a nn to Sandra, but by itself isn't too bad.
• Taliah - Lovely if it's TAL-ya. anything else I can't get on board with.

boys-

• Arya - Could this be a mixup or is it common for boys in a culture I'm unfamiliar with?
• Deklan - Oof.
• Edmund - It seems so mundane on this list! Not my favorite of the Ed- names, but definitely cozy and familiar.
• Ervin - Namefinder tells me this is an established variant of Irwin and Irving, in addition to being the names of two athletes, a musician, and a character on The Wire. It's servicable, being relatively unusual but falling in the trendy 2-syl-ends-in-n. 
• Jelani - Like I said in an earlier post, I have a soft spot for these modern African American names. I knew exactly how to pronounce it even though I'd never seen it before, and the spelling makes sense. I also like masculine names ending in the -ee sound as well.
• Kurt - I'm actually shocked that this is down so far, if only for the connection to Kurt Cobain, and apparently Cobain was only given to 12 boys last year. Maybe the association is too fresh in people's minds?
• Mac - Much prefer this as a nn. It's... fine.
• Oziel - This one is new to me. It's apparently a Hebrew name mostly used in Spanish-speaking cultures.
• Rashawn - Same as Jalani. I do think it's funny that I'm a fairly hipsterish white girl with such an affection for invented African American naming styles.
• Rian - I went to college with a girl with this name. That's all I can think about.

I can see Emelyn, Rian, Madisen, and Deklan being a sibset. Not a fan, but I can see it.

Sandy, Kurt, and Mac could work. I also think Rashawn and Jelani could be brothers. If I could figure out the right pronunciations to much of the girl names I think I could do better putting them together.

My favorites are definitely Taliah and Edmund.

Okay, I want to do a second one, too. The random number generator gave me 105 this time.  The list isn't very long.

Girls:

My pick: Trisha. The only Trisha I've ever known was just Trisha, not a Patricia nicknamed Trisha, which is possibly why it works for me as a full name.

The other options: Blythe (This has just never really appealed to me as a first name.  I might consider it as a middle name.), Brooklynne (This spelling feels less like a place name and more a like a combo of Brooke and Lynn.  It mostly just made me wonder whether "Brookelynne" shows up anywhere (it does: there were 21 girls named Brookelynne in 2011)), Jacelyn (Creative spelling of Jacqueline, or Jase-lynn?), Janelly, Kamdyn, Kayle (Like kale, the vegetable?  Or Kaylee?), Makyla, Miabella (Usually "bella" just sounds like a name element to me, but in this particular creation the fact that it means "beautiful" in Italian really jumps out at me.  Maybe because "mia" is also an Italian word?), Raine, Shaelyn, Shylah, Tristan (This is a boy's name to me).

Boys:

My pick: Fred. But only if I absolutely had to pick one of these names.

The other options:

• Aaryan - I think that this is just a creative spelling of Aaryan, but it's too close to to aryan,
• Emil - not bad, and I do actually have the right ancestory for it, but since I only speak English and my family lost all traces of our ancestoral cultures several generations ago, it would feel to me like I was trying too hard,
• Kollin
• Syncere - I'd have expected this for girls rather than boys, but both this and Sincere are more common (but still rare) on boys than on girls,
• Yasir - Not only do I not speak Arabic, but my only association with this is Yasir Arafat.  I wouldn't choose a name for which my only association was a controversial figure.
• Yoel - I don't know Hebrew and I'm not Jewish, so I wouldn't use this spelling.

Love these list! EVie-your list of #7 has some that are a bit strange but I could do Calton for a boy and maybe Teak for a girl.

Elizabeth T-Your list of #28 is a great list and seems like these are mostly respellings that have not caught on yet. It remains to be seen whether they will fall completely off or increase over the next few years. I don't know how many I would ACTUALLY use but they seem doable for the most part..

Tana-I don't think I would pick any of those.

Ilikemints-I rather like Emelyn, Alea (I know an uh-lee-uh spelled Aleah), or Alasia (I would say Uh-layzh-uh). Deklan for a boy might be doable.

I picked another # to do myself: 65

Girls:Adley; Alanis (like Morissette?); Ariannah; Asma (uh NO!); Avaya; Brihanna (reminds me of Bruhaha); Chantal; Corina; Danni; Emarie (respelling of Emery?); Emmarie (ditto); Franchesca; Ines; Ivey; Jenavieve (maybe if I was Michelle Duggar); Johannah (totally usable); Kaleigha; Karson (boys camp); Kensie; Kimberlee (I like this actually); Laisha; Leora; Makaylee (trying too hard); Marta (I love Sound of Music); Pauline; Rina; Roselynn; Samirah; Serina (??maybe); Sophya (as much as I like Y's-no)

So I would use=Kimberlee, Marta, Adley, Ariannah, Johannah

Boys:Azael (you missed the A on the end); Benaiah; Cylus (too many cyclops jokes); Deagan (is it EE or AY); Derwin (or Derwood or Darwin from Bewitched); Dontrell; Dyllan(maybe); Jaelyn (too girly); Jaycen (ditto); Jomar; Jonny; Judd(rhymes with Mud, Thud, Dud); Kameryn(girly); Khaled; Lyam (again as much as I like Y's-no); Maceo; Pete (sure and he was born 50 yrs ago); Stefano; Ted (his b=twin brother is Pete); Teo (short for Matteo? or Theo w/o an H?); Trentin (as long as I don't live in NJ)

So boys I would use=Dyllan and Deagan (EE for me) and maybe Trentin

I got 12 with the generator.

Girls: My favorite would probably be Honour. There are a lot of interesting names given to 12 girls (Daily, Jermany, Merlin). I wonder if the 12 Edinas were named after Edina Monsoon of Ab Fab (I sort of hope not).

Boys: I guess Klaus would be my pick. Closely followed by Casanova and Exodus!

My number, using the same generator, but between 50 and 120: 54

My pick for a girl:  Evey.  My daughter's name is Evie, so this was a no-brainer.  Excluding her, I think my favorite is Zinnia.  Boys are more difficult.  I think I have to go with Blade.

The lists includes a number of recognizable words and proper nouns: 
(g) Aura, Indiana, Italy, October, Rio, Zinnia
(b) Ash, Blade, Rivers, Skye.... Is it fair to group Laken in here, too?

Majority of the girls seem to be variations on top-200 names:
Aleaha (vs. Aaliyah, #46) Also seems to be Arabic name on its own.
Alliana (vs. Eliana, #156)
Arianah (vs. Arianna, #52) 
Baleigh (vs. Bailey, #88)
Breann (vs. Brianna, #45)
Gisella (vs. Giselle, #152)
Jaide (vs. Jade, #113)
Jessika (vs. Jessica, #120)
Kendell (vs. Kendall, #123)
Maddilynn (vs. Madelyn, #79 or Madeline, #85)
Maddyson (vs. Madison, #8)
Mikenzie (vs. MacKenzie, #68)
Naomie (vs. Naomi, #93)

But fewer of the boys:
Arron (vs. Aaron, #50)
Jaidan (vs. Jayden, #4)
Deric (vs. Derek, #181)
Kris and Cristo (vs. Christopher? #21)
 

Names that seem very NOW:
(g) Aralyn, Brailynn, Kenslee 
(b) Beckam, Kysen 

 Both Kacper and Casper are in the boy group. 

I used a random number generator and got 77. For girls, these were the names:

Addalynn,F,77
Aisley,F,77
Amie,F,77
Brileigh,F,77
Christa,F,77
Ciana,F,77
Iyonna,F,77
Izabell,F,77
Jaliah,F,77
Keyanna,F,77
Keylee,F,77
Kodi,F,77
Layan,F,77
Leana,F,77
Lux,F,77
Misha,F,77
Naimah,F,77
Raelee,F,77
Shae,F,77
Tamiyah,F,77
Vivianne,F,77
Ysabella,F,77

I think I'd pick Aisley. I don't really "like" it, but it's okay. The only other one that I can imagine would be Misha -- even though I know that to be a boy's name. What I notice that all of these have in common is that they are almost all non-traditional spellings. For just about all of them, I can think of a more-acceptable spelling of the same name.

For boys, these were the names:

Brooklyn,M,77
Dakari,M,77
Daveon,M,77
Jayshawn,M,77
Kainoa,M,77
Karon,M,77
Marcelino,M,77
Olivier,M,77
Tyrus,M,77

I kind of like Marcelino, but only as a nickname for Marcel or Marcello. The only one I could possibly use as an actual name on a birth certificate would be Olivier -- which, I assume is pronounced "oh-LIV-ee-ay" -- like the last name of the actor. That one is kind of cool, but it would be mistaken for "Oliver" a TON.

I picked 25 because that's how old I am.

Boys:

Most of the names on this list look misspelled...like Henrry and Demetrious look like someone was trying to put Henry and Demetrius but messed up. Which is possible, since my dad mispelled his name and his birthplace on my birth certificate!

My favorites from the list:

• Trevan - I actually have a character in a book I am writing named Trevan!
• Pascal - Not bad, he was a philosopher so there's that
• Kelsey - I have a female cousing named Kelsey, but I can see it on a boy too. I wonder if it used to be a boy's name, like Morgan and Ashley etc.
• Eston - Would make a great fantasy character name
• Glendon - Same as above

Girls

There are a lot of interesting spellings on this list that really make me cringe, like Daphnie and Alexsa, and Mollee. There are a few pretty compound names like Ellagrace, Sarabeth, and Marykate (which I'm assuming would have a space or hyphen, but doesn't show up on the official ss list)

Cool Finds

• Zori - Kind of a cute, spunky twist on Tori, though it sounds like a nickname
• Quorra - I'm into Legend of Korra right now, this is an interesting but cool spelling of the same name
• Tzivia - A very Jewish name, but so pretty!
• Loreal - reminds me of the hair products, but if it weren't for that, it would be a really pretty name
• Kansas - I guess any state can be a name...I just never thought of Kansas as a possibility. I looked it up and there were also 5 boys named Kansas! How interesting. I wonder how some place get to seem more femenine and some more masculine. Like Dallas and Austin are fairly common boy names, but London and Sydney are common girl names. Wierd!
• Alaska - another state name, my birth state! There was a character in a John Green novel with this name.

My number is 9- there are 969 girls' names and 703 boys names on that list, most of which are invented, odd spellings, or mashups (Aliviana, Ambellina, Brinklee, Elowyn, Zyrielle, Jhordyn, Lexianna, Heavenleigh; Braxen, Blayton, Joevannie, Aeryn, Knoah, Ralphael). There are also a few huh ones (Nyx (g),  Albino (b), Chasten (b), Sircharles (b)). There are actually quite a few fairly normal English names, nevermind some undiscovered-in-America Celtic gems (Finola!).

Word and place names

Girls: Africa, Alberta, Aqua, Astra, Celestial, Chardonnay, Cricket, Elba, England, Gift, Girl, Harvest, Illyria, Irish, Jerusalem, Lilac, Mariposa, Modesty, Posey, Rhythm, Sequoyah, Shade, Sonoma, Sway, Thai, Velvet.

Boys: Arran, Azure, Banner, Bless, Blessed, Ember, Epic, Faith, Fender, Gemini, Jove, Loyatly, Nobel, Oriel, Revel,  Royale, Sequoia, Silver, Sinai, Stark, Trek.

Surnames (all from the boys' side)

Browning, Chamberlain, Chavez, Columbus, Donovon, Erikson, Gresham, Grover, Halden, Hawken, Heaton, Hendry, Herschel, Jantzen, Kincaid, Ripken, Ripley, Roarke, Rourke, Sheppard, Sheridan, Stevenson, Taft, Tesla, Thornton, Tilman, Wagner, Wellington.

And then...

Girls: Bellatrix, Bessie, Catriona, Christiona, Claudette, Claudine, Concetta, Doriana, Drucilla, Ebba, Finola, Giordana, Iara, Io, Iola, Kit, Lilybelle, Lynne, Maude, Maybelle, Nerea, Nerissa, Petrina, Sabrine, Sorcha, Stavroula, Tilda, Vivika, Zephyra.

Boys: Alfie, Alp, Alphonzo, Alric, Attila, Avner, Colman, Conroy, Douglass, Drako, Frederik, Godfrey, Idriss, Ivo, Jago,  Junius, Lancelot, Laurent, Lorne, Ludwig, Norbert, Orville, Peregrine, Philemon, Talmadge, Tudor, Woody.

There are some great potential sibsets in there- Catriona, Finola, Sorcha, Arran, and Colman; Lilac, Posey, Godfrey, and Ivo; Idriss and Tudor; Iola, Maybelle, and Junius...

I've bolded the ones that I would potentially use (or could be persuaded to use), but if I had to pick only one of each, then it would have to be  Maude and Laurent (runners up Iola, Finola, Jago, and Colman).

Fun!

My number is 9- there are 969 girls' names and 703 boys names on that list, most of which are invented, odd spellings, or mashups (Aliviana, Ambellina, Brinklee, Elowyn, Zyrielle, Jhordyn, Lexianna, Heavenleigh; Braxen, Blayton, Joevannie, Aeryn, Knoah, Ralphael). There are also a few huh ones (Nyx (g),  Albino (b), Chasten (b), Sircharles (b)). There are actually quite a few fairly normal English names, nevermind some undiscovered-in-America Celtic gems (Finola!).

Word and place names

Girls: Africa, Alberta, Aqua, Astra, Celestial, Chardonnay, Cricket, Elba, England, Gift, Girl, Harvest, Illyria, Irish, Jerusalem, Lilac, Mariposa, Modesty, Posey, Rhythm, Sequoyah, Shade, Sonoma, Sway, Thai, Velvet.

Boys: Arran, Azure, Banner, Bless, Blessed, Ember, Epic, Faith, Fender, Gemini, Jove, Loyatly, Nobel, Oriel, Revel,  Royale, Sequoia, Silver, Sinai, Stark, Trek.

Surnames (all from the boys' side)

Browning, Chamberlain, Chavez, Columbus, Donovon, Erikson, Gresham, Grover, Halden, Hawken, Heaton, Hendry, Herschel, Jantzen, Kincaid, Ripken, Ripley, Roarke, Rourke, Sheppard, Sheridan, Stevenson, Taft, Tesla, Thornton, Tilman, Wagner, Wellington.

And then...

Girls: Bellatrix, Bessie, Catriona, Christiona, Claudette, Claudine, Concetta, Doriana, Drucilla, Ebba, Finola, Giordana, Iara, Io, Iola, Kit, Lilybelle, Lynne, Maude, Maybelle, Nerea, Nerissa, Petrina, Sabrine, Sorcha, Stavroula, Tilda, Vivika, Zephyra.

Boys: Alfie, Alp, Alphonzo, Alric, Attila, Avner, Colman, Conroy, Douglass, Drako, Frederik, Godfrey, Idriss, Ivo, Jago,  Junius, Lancelot, Laurent, Lorne, Ludwig, Norbert, Orville, Peregrine, Philemon, Talmadge, Tudor, Woody.

There are some great potential sibsets in there- Catriona, Finola, Sorcha, Arran, and Colman; Lilac, Posey, Godfrey, and Ivo; Idriss and Tudor; Iola, Maybelle, and Junius...

I've bolded the ones that I would potentially use (or could be persuaded to use), but if I had to pick only one of each, then it would have to be  Maude and Laurent (runners up Iola, Finola, Jago, and Colman).

Fun!

My number: 24

Gender: Girls

My favorite name on here is Peggy. You're probably reacting as if I stuck some rotten cheese under your nose, but I actually like this name -- not as a short form of Margaret, but as a name on its own. It was on my favorite name list at one point, as a matter of fact. Though I wouldn't use it, it'd make a nice guilty pleasure name. It's cute.

Names I was surprised (some pleasantly, some unpleasantly) to see:

• Alijah - I found a (female!) Alyjah in my little sister's old yearbook (Alyjah was in kindergarten at the time, would be in the summer between fifth and sixth grade now). It horrifies me that people would want to use Elijah on a girl.
• Bailie - Again, found this name in two seperate yearbooks. One was the same yearbook Alyjah was from; this girl would be in the summer between 10th and 11th grade now. The other is from my own school yearbook from this most recent school year. She's in the summer between 7th and 8th grade.
• Brynnleigh - I once had a YouTube show in which I played a gaudy, trashy, outrageous girl named Brynnleigh, with that spelling. It surprises me that this is a real name.
• Child - All their lives, these girls will be named Child. How sad. Last year, there were only five girls with this name, so this made a big rise.
• Denae - I'm surprised this name is so uncommon. I know a few Denaes. It's actually a nice name.
• Heavenlee - This name comes off as trashy to me. I'm not a fan of "heaven" names, especially Heavenly. Spelling it wrong makes it worse. Then again, it could be a double barreled name, Heaven Lee.
• Ilona - I actually knew a girl with this name. Her last name was a long Ukrainian surname that people has trouble saying and spelling. This name is a form of Helen.