The Social Security Administration has released the list of popular baby names for last year. Check out the top 100 list of baby names given last year which includes these newcomers:
Most shocking change? After enjoying 12 long years at the top of the list, Emily has been replaced by Emma. But she didn't fall far and remains high on the list at #3.
And what about the name Barack? According to the SSA:
"The name everybody is wondering about, Barack, did not make this year’s top 1,000 boy’s list, but it did set what is believed to be a record by skyrocketing more than 10,000 spots in rising from number 12,535 in 2007 to 2,409 in 2008. Social Security’s sophisticated predictive models are forecasting an increase well into the top 1,000 for Barack for 2009."
My thoughts last year about how President Obama's daughters' names would fare came out split a bit, with the name Sasha falling just slightly (from #351 to #363) and Malia moving up the list more than 50 spots from #400 to #345. Also, I noticed that the name Addison only fell by one spot from #11 to #12. Apparently the dreadful spin-off of Grey's Anatomy hasn't affected the naming trend a bit.
I love reading these lists when they come out every year. My husband and I also found in useful when naming our two sons. We avoided anything that was in the top 100!