Heading into delivery with their top choices in mind, some people don’t make the final decision on the name until they see which one the baby “looks like.” Because it will likely follow them for the rest of their life, parents choose carefully, and it seems they are choosing the same ones. According to the Social Security Administration are Isabella and Jacob. Well, Jacob is no surprise. It’s been holding the #1 position for 11 years running. (Wow! I guess that means that as a baby gift company we should stock up on “Jacob” for our personalized baby gifts.) And, Isabella has been in the top 10 since 2004.
Where do baby names come from?
My Mom saw my sister’s name in a dream; mine was chosen because it was unique and wasn’t so popular at the time (that was way back in the day because it’s pretty common nowadays.) So you can see that the inspiration for baby names can literally come from anywhere. From company names and beverages to family members and pop culture, Moms and Dads are letting just about everything influence them. What’s the latest, greatest inspiration? The movie Twilight. Cullen has moved up 11 spots partly because one of the main characters is Edward Cullen, and Bella is his girlfriend, which may be why Isabella has had a recent surge as well.
Another trend? Parents seem to be more creative and innovative with their little girl’s names and more consistent and traditional with the boys.
Who’s in the top 10?
A little more than 22,000 girls born in 2009 were named Isabella, followed by Emma, Olivia, Sophia and Ava. Nearly 21,000 boys were named Jacob, followed by Ethan, Michael, Alexander and William. Mia was the only newcomer to the top 10 for girls, rising from 14th to 10th. Among the boys, Jayden moved up from 11th to 8th, and Noah moved up from 15th to 9th.
You Name It
Just in case you’d like to do a little “name-dropping” yourself, here are a two of our Top 10 personalized baby gifts–Jo Jo the Giraffe and Patches the Puppy. They’ve got the cutest names of all!
