Hi, friends. I had a strange obsession with looking through baby name books as a kid. It wasn’t about loving babies–I never even had a realistic baby doll…it was likely just an iteration of my love for anything related to reading or writing. I relished discovering the ethnic roots and definitions for all the names plus learning new names.
Even now, when I meet or hear of someone with several siblings, I want to know all their names so I can observe a pattern in their parents’ choices. All timeless names? All trendy names? All family names? An inexplicable variety? Okay, I’ll stop describing my weirdness now. But maybe some of you writers out there who enjoy creating characters will feel me.
The Social Security Administration in the US has released the two lists with the top ten baby names in 2017 for boys and girls. I keep expecting to see uber-suburban and/or made-up names rising in the ranks, and while I assume they are (ugh), they haven’t cracked the top ten lists yet.
Top Ten Names for Boys & Girls in 2017, US:
- Liam, Emma
- Noah, Olivia
- William, Ava
- James, Isabella
- Logan, Sophia
- Benjamin, Mia
- Mason, Charlotte
- Elijah, Amelia
- Oliver, Evelyn
- Jacob, Abigail
Lots of biblical names and classics–I’m pretty satisfied with that. I recalled that most of these names have been top ten for at least a decade, so I checked, and Emma’s held the top spot for almost a decade, and Jacob went from #1 to #10 in that time. I also observe names like Madison, Chloe, Michael, and Joshua decreasing in popularity.
Just for fun…
- Liam–Irish–“strong-willed warrior” or “resolute protection” (some sources contradict on the minute issues so I did my best, hence the word “or”)
- Emma–German–“universal”
- Noah–Hebrew–“rest”
- Olivia–Latin–“olive tree” (popularized by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night)
Thanks for reading! What are some popular names in your country? If you’re American, have you met lots of kids with these names?
I work with little ones so I’ve seen these names quite a few times haha. My 5 year old was once in a class that had an Aidan, Aden, and Jayden. I felt so bad for that teacher!!
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Ah, the adens….Aidan, Jayden, Hayden, Caiden, Braeden, etc. Lol! Tbh, those still aren’t even as bad as names that the parents piece together like the Frankenstein monster.
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Haha so true!! 😀
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I was given a known name but not real popular when named. It exploded afterwards and I can’t count the number of Ryan’s I know. My brother was given a less common name and that’s still the case. I don’t know many Ross’s. He carried on the tradition by naming his kids Blaize & Storm respectively. I’ve considered that when I get married and have kids I want to name my son Nolan Ryan Stroud. I even had suggested to my ex when we were planning for a future about naming a daughter Kennedy as an homage to her last name. Well so much for that. We’ll see what happens in the near future
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Funny that I’ve met Kennedy’s and Nolan’s! Like you, I was also given a name that was known but not popular. It made me anxious to observe the name rising in popularity a few years ago, but luckily, the “Lily” fad seems to have come and gone…we’ll see though
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Ha! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who has a thing about names and their meanings/origins.
It took me forever to decide on a name for my daughter and even longer for her father and I to agree. We ended up deciding on Reagan Lynn.
My mom’s middle name is Lynn, and she named her first daughter, the first girl grandchild, after her own mom. I did the exact same thing so I’ve started a tradition now. 😜
Also, I love Irish names and my family has some Irish ancestry, so Reagan was a nod to that. Reagan means “Royal, regal” and Lynn means “House” – so her name means “Royal House”. And I think that’s cool – for a commoner!
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Omg, what a lovely and classy name/symbol! 🙂 My boyfriend and I are already discussing potential names, haha. Choosing the perfect name is important!
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What ?
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Lol, that’s a weird hobby 🙂 but a funny one as well!
#1 is the name I gave my baby boy last year. Funnily enough, it has also been one the most popular name in some regions of Switzerland for a few years now … I always wonder why because Liam is definitely not a typical Swiss name and there are not that many Irish immigrants around here.
For me, what happened was that I was living in Dublin by the time I got pregnant the first time so I wanted to give my baby an Irish name (plus my boyfriend is also half-Irish so it totally made sense for us). And even though I moved out of Ireland before my daughter was born, we continued with the tradition of Irish names for the second one 🙂
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