Babies
‘Emma’ Leapfrogs ‘Emily’ to Become Most Popular Girls Name
In the heavyweight fight of baby names, 12-year reigning U.S. champion “Emily” has been toppled by “Emma,” the new number one name for girls in America.
WOW! From “Emily” to “Emma.” How… different.
“The girls names we see moving up most quickly tend to be quite feminine,” said “The Baby Name Bible” co-author Pam Satran, “names starting with a vowel and ending in ‘a.’ ”
According to the Social Security Administration, the most popular 10 names for baby daughters in 2008, in order, are: Emma; Isabella; Emily; Madison; Ava; Olivia; Sophia; Abigail; Elizabeth; and Chloe.
Meanwhile, topping the boys list for 2008 is the usual “Jacob,” which has been the number one male moniker for 10 years. In fact, not a single name in the boys’ top five changed positions: Jacob; Michael; Ethan; Joshua; and Daniel all kept their places from 2007. Because we Americans are original like that.
“Barack” wasn’t exactly close to cracking the top 10; however, Social Security officials believe “Barack” did set a record, jumping from the 12,535th most popular name to become the 2,409th most popular.
I’m proud to note that “Candy” topped the list in a special sub-category of names: Baby Girls Most Likely to Become Strippers.
Woo-hoo!
