Issue 31.11
In case you missed it: Social Security has announced the top ten baby names for boys and girls in 2010. And the winners are … Jacob and Isabella!
Jacob and Isabella are once again king and queen of the crib. This is the twelfth year in a row on our list for Jacob and the second for Isabella. We have a new number two for girls: welcome Sophia. The only new name to crawl into the top 10 on either list this year is Aiden, which replaces Joshua on the boys’ side.
Here is the entire top ten for boys and girls:
Boys: 1. Jacob 2. Ethan 3. Michael 4. Jayden 5. William 6. Alexander 7. Noah 8. Daniel 9. Aiden 10. Anthony
Girls: 1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Ava 6. Emily 7. Abigail 8. Madison 9. Chloe 10. Mia
This year, the two biggest jumps in popularity in the Top 500 are related: Maci and Bentley. Maci Bookout and her infant son, Bentley, were prominently featured on the show “Teen Mom” and its predecessor, “16 and Pregnant.”
The “Twilight” novels and movies continue to inspire baby names. The second fastest riser on the boys’ list is Kellan, the name of actor Kellan Lutz, best known for playing Emmett Cullen in the “Twilight” series. Coming in third is Knox, one of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s toddler twins.
On the girls’ side, Tiana, the name of the main character in the Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog and Disney’s first African-American princess, is one of the biggest chart hoppers.
A final bit of name trivia: Elvis has left the building, sliding off the top 1,000 boy’s names altogether. This bit of news left Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue “all shook up.”
Learn more at www.socialsecurity.gov/babynames. While you’re on the website, check out the relevant information for parents-to-be on Social Security numbers and benefits for children, and what every parent should know about Social Security.
And for any parents who named their kids Jacob or Isabella this year, congratulations: your kids are already the most popular kids in America!