Most Popular Baby Names 2008: Emma Takes The Top Spot

WASHINGTON — Barack and Miley move up, but the classics still rule. Emma is the top baby name for girls, Jacob for boys. Emma's surge to the top in 2008 ended Emily's 12-year reign as the No. 1 baby name for girls, the Social Security Administration announced Friday.

Jacob held onto the boy's crown for the 10th straight year.

Barack may have been the man of the year in 2008 as Obama won the White House, but the president still trails the king. Barack moved up a record 10,126 places to No. 2,409. Elvis is still in the building, though he slipped from 673 to 713.

In the midst of last year's election, Isha Kallay of suburban Washington wanted to name her newborn son after the future president. But she feared that Barack would become too popular, especially if he won.

"That's why I named my baby Obama because I wanted my baby to have a special name that other people don't have," Kallay said from her home in Lanham, Md.

Baby naming experts said Americans are pulled by sometimes conflicting impulses when choosing names for their children. They gravitate toward the popular, wanting their child to fit in. But many also want their child's name to be unique, so they don't have to share it with four other kids in class at school.

Many turn to the Bible; others turn to TV.

Emma debuted in the top 10 in 2002, the same year that Jennifer Aniston's character on "Friends" gave the name to her TV show baby. In the latest lineup, Emma was followed by Isabella, Emily, Madison and Ava.

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"They might want to emulate the stars, but if they do, the name can't be too far out," said Jennifer Moss, author of "The One-in-a-Million Baby Name Book" and founder of Babynames.com.

"You don't see many Apples," she said, referring to name actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave her daughter. There aren't many Gwyneths, either.

Miley, as in popular teen singer Miley Cyrus, moved up 152 spots to No. 127. But her stage name, Hannah _ as in Hannah Montana _ fell from No. 9 to No. 17.

Michelle continued a steady 20-year slide, falling from No. 94 to No. 103. But that could change now that Michelle Obama is first lady. The names of the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, were in the 300s.

The top five boys names remained unchanged from 2007. Jacob was followed by Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel. Alexander joined the top 10 at No. 6 while Andrew dropped out.

The Social Security Administration started compiling name lists in 1997. The agency offers lists of baby names dating to 1880. The agency's Web site includes the top baby names by state.

New girl names in the national top 1,000 included Isla (623), Mareli (718), Milagros (731), Dayami (750) and Nylah (821).

Debuting among the boys were Aaden (343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779) and Kymani (836). Beckham debuted at 893, perhaps a nod to the British soccer star, David Beckham, who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

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Associated Press News Researcher David Goodfriend contributed to this report.

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On the Web: Social Security Administration: http://www.ssa.gov

Comments

[EmmaDenvir]

My name's Emma. Lol. What are the odds that I would have the most common name? I always thought Emma was a name not many people used. I guess this gives me more of a reason to hate it, huh?

[MenaC]

I have one of the most popular names in time period in which I was born - Amanda. I graduated with 8 of them, there were many, many more in my highschool. I worked with 3 others in an office of 70. When I was managing a restuarant there was myself, 2 waitresses, and a bartender. It could get confusing. My nephew shortened it to Mena for me. But at almost-30, it's hard to convince people to call you something different!

[Patrick Murray]

I posted a comment on my blog after getting numbers from Social Security that deflates some of the Barack baby name hoopla:
http://monmouthpoll.blogspot.com

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

Poor Jacob. We named our son after a handful of relatives named Jacob, 3-4 generations ago before the name hit the bigtime. Thought it was a good name and not overly popular. He got so embarrassed when he was a teenager in McDs and every mom was yelling for 3-5 yr old "Jacobs" to come in from the playland.

[OnTheCusp]

I wound up with a "cool" name, so I've been told, that was ranked #376 the year I was born. It was tough to deal with when I was a kid.....people always wanted to shorten it into a moniker that was diminutive and deflating. Now, however, I am an adult and I realize that I have a name that 1) people remember, 2) do not dare to shorten (like Michael into Mike,) and 3) it sets me apart. It also has a certain European cache' that works in my favor now that the world is flat again, a' la Thomas Freidman.
Emma and Jacob? Sounds like a salt of the earth couple about to hand me a fresh baked pie or ask me to a "Sundy meetin'." Just one opinion....don't get mad at ME if this is what you named your kids.
Glad I got stuck with something distinct.
I really just don't get Emma. That one makes me shake my head....just don't get that one.

[EliaTheLiberal]

... what's your name?

[AntiClast]

I don't recommend Jayden, which is the most popular boy's name, counting the myriads of spellings:
Jaeden Jaedan, Jaiden, Jadin, Jadan, .... 6 to 10 in all. Any kid will be perpetually, repeatedly, spelling his name -- and it'll be wrong half the time anyway. The name seems to have come from Will Smith's son.
At least Steve is usually spelled right.
Boy names ending in 'n' are popular, why I can't guess -- Keegan, Hudson, Nolan, Cameron, Ryan, and especially Aidan, Jaidan and Kaidan.

[SonomaSunshine]

Unique names are better adapted to by girls than boys, socially, (I have read). Named our boy Calvin after Calvin & Hobbes in 1995 (when Bill Watterson retired) and then a girl Kathryn (Kate) after great grandmothers. Calvin is a good name that is different but not hard to spell or pronounce. I think Kate is a good name that gives tribute to Katherine Hepburn. Names that end in n. But they do not make the trendy list.

[BannedInBoston]

Barf.

[zmjz01]

My feelings precisely.

[Saidas]

Barf is both unique and easy to spell. Thanks for the suggestion.

[dollyblue]

Emma's not really the top girls' name if one adds together the variations of Sophia and Isabella; they both jump ahead of it. Some of the other names have tons of spelling variations (I think there's 10 different takes on Aiden and about that many for Addison, Allison, etc.).

[Ohioan730]

Emma was my g-mas name. I can't really hear it or read the name in print without hearing my grandfather whining "Eeeemmmaaaah!" in his southern drawl. "Emma" will always be "E-e-mmaah!" to me. :D

[MightyMeno]

Emma's at least a pretty name. I thank God I wasn't named after either of my grandmothers: Ethel and Bertha.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

My husband's gram was Emma, I agree, but his grgramma was Regula...how horrid was that?

[Jim Dahl]

Names that end in -n continue to climb (with Aiden and Peyton as the largest climbers for the year). The trend for unique spellings masks this climb -- the cumulative popularity of all spellings of Aiden, for example, is about 1.5% of all boys (while the single most popular spelling, Aiden, is only .5%). People who choose traditional names are less prone to seek unique spellings.

Seeing Marley come in for boys is surprising, it's pretty rare to see a name move from being popular for girls to popular for boys (moves in the other direction are quite common).

The link above is the raw data at SSA, if you want to dig deeper into the trends, also check out:
http://nametrends.net

[queotic]

I can't believe "Kymani" is on this list! My friend's named their son Kymani. Bob Marley's son is named Kymani and it's originally a Swahili name. I believe it means warrior.

[C0Y0TE2]

How about Coyote? How many were named Coyote?

[Copeword]

So, will Barack be a top 1,000 name next year?

[emmapeel]

My son's teenage friend is Barak (the Israeli version). I always loved his name.

[SteveDenver]

At least LeBron, LaShonda and Cheniqua are still safe bets for unique names.

[Bradley King]

....nice try...now work on it some more and just maybe you will actually be funny next time....

[queotic]

I'd rather have a unique name that a common one like Steve.

[UncleJimbo]

But if people keep giving the same "unique" names over and over they will become common!

[zmjz01]

Steve: You forgot Shaneequa and Kiyeesha. Also Antwon.