Your Favorite Baby Names: Winners Of HuffPost's Tournament Of Baby Names

Charlotte and James have been voted the Number 1 Favorite Names by readers of HuffPost Parents.

The winners of our first ever Tournament of Baby Names, created with baby name site Nameberry are considered classics. They beat out trendier runners up Ava and Jackson for the top spot after we matched up 16 popular girls' names and 16 boys' names -- such as Charlotte vs. Scarlett and Hudson vs. River -- and asked you to pick your favorites in a series of elimination rounds.

[SCROLL DOWN FOR COMMENTARY FROM NAMEBERRY ON THE WINNERS]

Charlotte

About the name: Charlotte is an elegant royal name, the feminine version of Charles which means "free man."

Official ranking: #45. Charlotte is the highest it's ever been in the U.S. and seems poised to head for the top, joining the current reigning girls' names Isabella and Sophia, also traditional royal choices. (Charlotte was also the favorite name of parents on Nameberry for the past two years.)

Celebrity parents who are fans: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. are celebrity parents of a little Charlotte.

James

About the name: Biblical, royal, and presidential, James has the same Hebrew root as official top name Jacob and means "supplanter."

Today's James is usually called not Jim or Jimmy or Jamie but James, as in James Bond….or James Franco.

Official ranking: #19

Celebrity parents who are fans: Paul McCartney, Colin Farrell, and Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick all have sons named James.

Ava

About the name: While Ava feels sleek and modern, it's actually an ancient name -- it's Latin for "bird" -- used for a saint who was a 9th century abbess. John Jacob Astor IV was married to an Ava, which made it a high society name, and 1950s Hollywood Glamour Girl Ava Gardner made it sexy.

Ava's success has elevated a number of similar names, from Eva and Ada to Avery to Aveline.

Official ranking: #5 in the US (and in the Top Ten in Australia and Ireland). This represents a meteoric rise for a name that wasn't even on the Top 1000 in the 1970s and 80s.

Celebrity parents who are fans: Ava became a modern hit after Reese Witherspoon and Hugh Jackman both chose it for their daughters.

Jackson

About the name: Jackson is more popular today than its father names John or Jack. Combining the artistic cool of Jackson Pollock and Jackson Browne, Jackson is also a presidential surname.

Official ranking: #25

Celebrity parents who are fans: Sometimes spelled Jaxon or Jaxson, the celebrity parents of sons named Jackson include Spike Lee, Carson Daly, and Maria Bello.

Quick Poll

There were also suggestions for names that should have been given a chance. Which reader-suggested name do you like the best?

Siri

Aurora

Nicolas

Luke

VOTE

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

What do you think about the winners? Let us know in the comments!

Comments

[ambrown1963]

12:17 PM on 07/16/2012

My son and his wife just had a baby. My son loved the name Sophia, but we wanted a different spelling. So the spelling we came up with is, Sofiya. We have never seen it spelled that way. So her name is Sofiya Desiree.

[Liz Loucks Lombardo]

04:00 PM on 07/13/2012

One of my sons is named John. He is always the only John in class, the park, etc... What was common is now exotic - go figure!

[sarahinez]

03:54 PM on 01/25/2012

James was the most common name for all American males in 1990 according to the Census records. Just over 3% of men had this name.

[Hard at work]

03:05 PM on 01/24/2012

Can I get a feel for what people think of the name "Judah" for a boy? I haven't met any in my life and worry that our kid will be the only Judah with an asian surname...kinda conspicuous...too easy to google...?

[Mental Revolution AWAKE]

02:05 PM on 01/24/2012

Names I will not be naming my child come August.

[mm1970]

08:33 PM on 02/01/2012

me neither, and I'm happy to see that my chosen name, while "normal", didn't even make the top 100.

[raynecloud]

03:56 PM on 01/23/2012

My husband has a Noregian cousin called Siri; I think it's a really lovely name.

As for Charlotte, yes, it's lovely. But I'm living in the UK at the moment and it's a top 10 name. Lots of little Charlottes running about. No thank you.

[imanormalalien]

07:19 AM on 01/23/2012

majority of these names suck

[roonie4]

11:25 AM on 01/22/2012

In high school there were around 7-10 girls in my year with my same name - Stephanie. The spellings varied - Stefanie (my best friend too), Steffanie, Stephany, even a Stephine. To make matters worse, 5 of us had last names that started with an S (try finding the right Stephanie's locker or simply just saying "Hey Steph" in our part of the hallway, lol) Four of us had an art class together and sat at the same table, and we even had a substitute teacher send us down to the office once because she thought we were lying when we gave her our names (for being too talkative haha). By the way I was born in 1982, and Stephanie was in the top 5 then. Just something to think about, parents, when you go with a name that is THE hot name - your child will be adding their last initial or full name to distinguish themselves throughout all of their school years.

[houblonchouffe]

08:03 PM on 01/22/2012

Absolutely. Five Sarahs on my floor freshman year of college--the floor only had 26 rooms. I occasionally get cranky when people ask me to spell my name, or mispronounce it, or--this happened A LOT in school--get to my name on a list and just... stop... cold. But overall, I'm incredibly grateful to have a unique name, for exactly the reason you're talking about. No mistaking; I'm usually the only Elitza people know :)

[roonie4]

12:23 AM on 01/23/2012

Your name is very pretty! Is it Spanish in origin?

[Chinny1102]

01:56 AM on 01/24/2012

lol there was a bunch of Jessies, Ambers, Ashleys (near the early/mid 90's), Saras, and Sheniqua's, La-incertnames, Xaviers and Deserei's in the schools I've attended. lol

[monkeyshine89]

01:27 AM on 01/22/2012

My name is common but respectable, Katherine Audrey. I on the other hand like classic but unusual names. My top choice for a daughter is Artemis, Hermione (yes, I know, Harry Potter... but it's an old greek name, not uncommon in Europe.) and Chihiro (Japanese). We never really thought of boy names but Apollo is a consideration. I'm an avid history student :)

[Mental Revolution AWAKE]

02:11 PM on 01/24/2012

Haha!!! My husband wanted Artemis for our oldest daughter. My one requirement is that it is pronouncable in Spanish and that it sounds good. It failed. Other names considered for the the 2 oldest: Leilani, Indira, Destiny, and Aaliyah. We're on #3 and hoping it's a boy. I would love to use Adonis for a middle name and to keep with my hubby having a greek name. :)

[jesslm80]

10:48 PM on 01/21/2012

Our one year old is named Charlotte. We think it's beautiful. :-)

[Kay Nicks]

06:07 PM on 01/21/2012

I adore the names Mackenzie, Maxin, & Xavier.

[LabRATTired]

09:54 PM on 01/21/2012

Mackenzie is what I would pick as well, and Nate for a boy... I also like Maximus.. Roman Warrior.. : )

[mm1970]

08:35 PM on 02/01/2012

My niece just named her son Maximus

[Jennifer Goldston]

02:10 PM on 01/21/2012

I love the name Aurora, she's my favorite Disney princess. I don't know if I would actually name my child that, but it's beautiful anyway!

[rivergirl301]

06:57 PM on 01/23/2012

Also the name of a character in one of my favorite films, "Terms of Endearment."

[Y Woodman Brown]

12:20 PM on 01/21/2012

If only new borns could talk...and put a stop to this madness.

[HM1FMF]

11:35 AM on 01/21/2012

My favorite name right now is LaDaniel.

[Jimmy B]

11:09 AM on 01/21/2012

I've been trying to push the names Setzer, Sabin, Celes, Locke, Cyan, Strago, Relm, Terra, or Kefka.

[sdave]

09:42 AM on 01/22/2012

Please don't.....

[Jimmy B]

12:13 PM on 01/22/2012

'Smatter, don't like Final Fantasy?

[Christine Wakefield]

08:18 PM on 01/22/2012

Relm is really nice:)