Famous names the game
SOPHIA is the new most popular baby name for girls, while Jacob is the top name for boys for the 13th straight year in a new list of popular baby names in the US – heavily influenced by religion, reality TV and the Twilight Saga.
Isabella, which had been the top girl’s name for two years, dropped to second place in 2011, according to the list released this week by the government’s Social Security Administration. Emma, Olivia and Ava rounded out the top five. Mason jumped 10 spots to become the second most popular name for newborn boys last year, knocking Michael out of the top five for the first time in 63 years. Kourtney Kardashian, the reality TV star, gave birth to Mason in December 2009 following a heavily publicised pregnancy.
Rounding out the top five: William, Jayden and Noah. Michael came in sixth, the lowest ranking for that name since 1948.
The Social Security Administration provides lists of baby names dating to 1880 on its website. The top two names that year were John and Mary. The list, which includes top baby names by state, draws millions of people.
Top girl names tend to be more volatile – changing from year to year – while the top boy names are more stable. William, for example, has been a popular boy’s name for more than 100 years, never falling out of the top 20. Mason is the exception, entering the top 100 for the first time in 1997.
On the girls’ side, Sophia first cracked the top 100 in 1997. Isabella dropped off the list altogether from 1949 to 1990. It’s popular now because of Twilight Saga character Bella, played by Kristen Stewart. Jacob almost certainly derives some of its popularity from another character from the series, played by Taylor Lautner.