The Social Security Administration has a web site where you can look up the popularity of baby names by year, by state, and by the name itself.
For 2002, the top ten names for boys (from one to ten) were Jason, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Joseph, Andrew, Christopher, Daniel, and Nicholas.
For girls: Emily, Madison, Hannah, Emma, Alexis, Ashley, Abigail, Sarah, Samantha, and Olivia. (Didn't Ashley on The Young and the Restless name her baby Abby, back in 2000?)
I can't remember where I read about this, but apparently girls have been getting faddish names for a while. The Victorians were apparently fond of giving their daughters "creative" names, and would sometime use a theme to name all their daughters. Florence Nightingale was named after an Italian city, as was her sister, Parthenope. Other families went with flower (Rose, Myrtle, Violet) or gem (Opal, Ruby) themes for their daughters' names.
:-P Hannah has been my favorite girl's name for as long as I can remember. It sounds so ould fashioned and domestic, I don't understand why it's so trendy lately.
Well, the flower things are much better than my family's tradition. Name the first son after the father's father, the second after the mother's. Same with daughter's after grandmothers. Then the next boy was the grandfather, then oldest uncle, and likewise the girls. That's why I have 8 cousin Johnnys, after Puppa Gianni. I also have 6-7 cousin Lucias.
I hate modern baby naming, with its emphasis on the TV approved and the social climbing. At least flowers or cities meant something to the family.
I say bring back real baby names, like Ethel, Beulah, and Rufus.
I'm never sure what drives other people to name their children, but saints' names ought nto be enough to satisfy any Catholic. At Yale I used to meet men who had been given their mothers' maiden names, but that's a Protestant habit. What people need to bear in mind is that a name isn't only going to be a cute handle for one's ducky little baby; the poor soul will have to grow up and grapple with the shame of realizing that her parents named her after a mountain range, or some whore on a soap opera, or saddled him with the name of the SUV or pickup truck his father wanted, but couldn't afford. On some occasion of parish celebration I overheard a woman calling to her daughter, "Sierra! Make sure to get some ice cream for Dakota!" I felt like asking her if, should she ever have a son, she intended to call him Rocky.
Lee Ann --
Don't forget Otto!
My grandmother was named Ruby Agatha (pronounced uh-GAH-tuh with the Jamaican accent) and I kind of like the old fashionedness of her name. My mother thinks I am crazy. I also like Rose because of Our Lady, but that seems to be gaining a bit of popularity. After Titanic maybe?
Otto is a girl's name. So's Clifford, according to the Agnes Scott yearbooks from 1922 and 1923 I picked up at a library closing. Southerners have a long tradition of naming girls after their fathers. I like the saint's name tradition because you at least get a name with a cool explaination. Not that little Eustochium will appreciate that history. Still, the world needs more Aelreds and Bedes.
The worst thing about modern baby names is that they have no character. Even the weird ones don't evoke eccentricity, just TV addiction or illiteracy. I work with an Acquanetta. I can't imagine "concern for the child" was big with her parents. I can't imagine what Gwaner's parents were thinking. All my coworkers are heavily into the Hailey-Bailey-Kaylie axis. I prefer Gwaner to Hailey.
I'd name my kids something sensible, like Sunniva, Ethel, Hazel, Rufus, Benno, or Hrothgar.
I'm into names with meaning, but I won't inflict anything too unpleasant-sounding or weird on my children. I like sturdy classics or a bit of romantic frill, so Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Frances, Catherine, Katrina, Juliana, Susanna, Rosalia, all work for me, though some of those are out for other reasons.
I have to fight snobbish thoughts about people who choose pleasing-sounding, content-free names. I too have been surprised by people thinking the name they chose is different when it's either been in the top 10 for the past 5 years or is rising very quickly since first appearing on Days of Our Lives a year before. I mean, if no one was using the name a decade ago, do they really think they're the only pregnant women who've been watching the same soaps and finding inspiration there?
Lee Ann,
You really like Hrothgar, don't you? It is a very good name. Amalia is a Latinization of Amalburga, which goes well with Keilholtz: Amalburga Keilholtz. When Amalia is acting like a Visigoth I call her Amalburga.