Naming baby for the last 99 years
Names are fascinating things. Most parents put great thought into naming their new babies — or do they? Some do, to be sure. They name babies after themselves, grandparents, famous people, places the children were conceived and all sorts of other things.
So what accounts for some of these interesting U.S. statistics?
Girl names
♦ From 1920 to 1946 — 26 years — the most popular name for baby girls was Mary. Linda bumped Mary to second place for the next six years, but in 1953, Mary took the lead again and held it for another nine years. Mary’s last appearance in the top five girls’ names was 1967.
♦ Lisa, who wasn’t even in the top five from 1920 to 1960, suddenly appeared in 1961 and held first place for eight years.
♦ In 1970, Jennifer inched past Lisa and kept first place for 15 years.
♦ Jessica, who had been running second to Jennifer for four years, finally took over in 1985 but was only able to keep her lead for six years, before Ashley, who had been immediately on her heels all six years, inched past for a twoyear stint as number one. Jessica regained her lead from 1993 to 1995.
♦ In 1996, Emily, who had never even seen second place, jumped abruptly to first and held it for 12 years.
♦ Emma moved from third place in 2007 to first in 2008, only to lose to Isabella in 2009 and to fall back to third in 2010 as Isabella held onto first and Sophia moved into second.
♦ Sophia took first in 2011 and held on for three years. Emma finally took the lead again in 2014 and held her own for five years.
♦ In 2019, the last year we currently have statistics for, Olivia pulled ahead after playing second fiddle to Emma for five years straight.
Boy names
♦ Of the last 99 years, Michael held first place for 43 of them: 19541959 and 19611998.
♦ 31 years of the last 99 have been dominated by boys whose names begin with “J”: John, 19201923; James, 19401952; Jacob, 19992012.
♦ Robert weighs in as the second most popular boy’s name of the last 99 years, coming in at first place 17 times, from 1924 to 1939 and again in 1953.
♦ That leaves eight spots for our time period. David won the year 1960. Noah took 20132016 and Liam came out on top from 2017 to 2019.
The stats are still being compiled for the most unusual year of 2020. Who knows what the top names will be for this year. Watch https://www.ssa.gov/ oact/babynames/top5names. html to find out.