Jack and Grace Top 2007 Baby Name Lists In England And Wales

Posted on January 3, 2008 by neil

I’m not sure how they figured these numbers out before the end of the calendar year, but according to the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics, the top baby names of 2007 in England and Wales were Jack and Grace.

Jack has now been in the number one spot for 13 years, while Grace is a newcomer, bumping last year’s number one girl’s name, Olivia, out of the top spot.

Just like in the U.S., the girl’s name Ava, and the boy’s name Jayden, are climbing the popularity charts.

The girls’ names in the U.K. in particular look like a clone of the U.S. list, with favorites like Emily, Olivia, and Sophie also in the top ten. On the boy’s side, Harry, Charlie, and Alfie give the top ten a real British flavor.

Here are the top ten boys’ and girls’ names for 2007 for England and Wales:

Jack Grace

Thomas Ruby

Oliver Olivia

Joshua Emily

Harry Jessica

Charlie Sophie

Daniel Chloe

William Lily

James Ella

Alfie Amelia

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Top 2007 Baby Names

Posted on December 13, 2007 by neil

The media is paying a lot of attention to the predictions for top baby names of 2007 from BabyCenter.com, but I think BabyCenter (or at least their readers) have it wrong.

The BabyCenter annual list predicts Sophia will be the most popular girls’ name of 2007, but we have to disagree. Our own list of top 2007 baby names tips Ava for that coveted number 1 spot, while Sophia will place a respectable sixth.

We think Jacob, Joshua and Michael will end up as the official top three boys’ names of 2007, while BabyCenter is predicting Aiden, Ethan, and Jacob. (They chose Aiden as number one last year, also, if memory serves correctly, and it was wrong then as well).

Our top three girls’ picks are Ava, Emily, and Isabella, while BC is touting Sophia, Isabella, and Emma.

Guess we’ll all have to check back in May, 2008 to see which site has the best crystal ball!

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted in Top Baby Names 2007 | Leave a comment

Exotic Baby Names — The New Book

Posted on November 28, 2007 by neil

A new baby name book hits the shelves — or at least the virtual stores — on December 5. Titled The Best Exotic Baby Names, it’s a 168 page paperback stuffed with exotic baby names from around the world. (Does anyone ever publish a baby name book anymore that doesn’t claim to be “the best”?).

The new book is by Allison Jones, a world-traveller, resident of the Pacific Northwest, and self-described mother of five “exotically-named” children.

I haven’t seen the book yet, but from the press release, and the Best Exotic Baby Names website, it includes thousands of names that the author has gathered over the years, from different countries and cultures.

According to their press release, the names have been carefully researched and catalogued — a welcome approach in this era of copycat name definitions and user-generated name lists! A quick glance at their website seems to back up this claim.

Look for it next week, folks.

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted in Exotic Baby Names | 2 Comments

Pilgrim Baby Names

Posted on November 20, 2007 by neil

I did a post recently about Pilgrim baby names, and now that it’s almost Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to see what kinds of names the original Mayflower settlers brought with them.

As I mentioned in that post, a baby boy was born aboard ship as the Mayflower sailed west — he was named Oceanus. And when the ship anchored in Cape Cod Harbor — but before it reached Plymouth — the first English child born in New England arrived, and his name was Peregrine.

But what about the passengers on the Mayflower? What kinds of names did these early settlers bring with them to the New World?

A complete Mayflower passenger list can be found at the excellent Mayflower History site.

On the male side, there were lots of Johns, Richards, Williams, and Edwards. But some unusual boys’ names slipped aboard, including Wrestling, Giles, Degory, Resolved, and Myles.

The girls’ list included some equally unusual names. Beyond the typical Elizabeths and Marys, there sailed women or girls named Love, Remember, Humility, Desire, Jasper, and Constance.

It is a more varied group of names than I expected. It goes to show that unique or unusual baby names are not just the modern phenomenon that people sometimes seem to think!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted in Pilgrim Baby Names | Leave a comment

Atlanta Loves Cute Baby Names

Posted on November 11, 2007 by neil

I came across one of those reports recently that tells you what search terms are hot on the internet, and I was surprised to see “cute baby names” on the list. I know people search for “unique baby names,” and “unusual baby names,” but I hadn’t realized “cute baby names” were so popular.

So I clicked to one of those endless “cute” tools from Google — one that lets you really dig down and see what searchers are looking for. And guess what city looks for “cute baby names” the most?

Atlanta, Georgia!

You can take a look at Google’s tool to see top searches for cute baby names. But Atlanta isn’t the only place they like their names cute. Right behind Georgia’s capital comes Chicago, Illinois, followed by Los Angeles and London.

I never would have guessed!

What are your favorite, or least favorite, cute baby names?

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , ,

Posted in Cute Baby Names | 2 Comments

Hi, My Name Is Brooklyn, And I’m From … Brooklyn

Posted on October 30, 2007 by neil

The recent release of the most popular baby names of 2006 by the New York City Health Department continues to spark interest. The New York Daily News just got a hold of it, and figured out that the name Brooklyn is on the increase in the city.

But what’s really interesting in this story is that while the name Brooklyn showed up more often in New York in 2006 than in previous years, it’s actually trailing the rest of the country in overall popularity!

In the Big Apple, Brooklyn ranked 151st in popularity in 2006, mostly as a girl’s name. But in the U.S. as a whole, it ranked 67th. That’s a jump from 78th place in 2005.

Come on New York! It’s your borough — but it looks like the hinterland is more hip on this issue. Could it be that the world actually doesn’t end at the Hudson River?

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Posted in New York Baby Names | 1 Comment

New York City Baby Names Just Released

Posted on October 12, 2007 by neil

New York City’s Department of Health has just released its statistics for the most popular baby names in New York for 2006 — and the girl’s name Emily dropped from the number one position it had occupied since 2003.

The new number one girl’s name in New York is Ashley — which actually held the top spot from 1992 – 2002. Emily and Isabella round out the top three girls’ names in the Big Apple, which saw more than 125,000 new babies in 2006.

On the boy’s side, Michael continues its run of more than a quarter century as the most popular boy’s name, followed by traditional favorites Daniel and Matthew in second and third place.

New in the top ten for boys is the name Jayden, which landed in the tenth spot. Jayden is also one of America’s top ten unisex baby names.

If celebrities influence baby names, then Angelina was a clear winner at number 16. Britney only managed to reach 119, while Paris tied Lindsay for 121st place.

Precious gem names shone among the baby girls of New York in 2006, with Amber, Jade and Ruby all placing in the top 100.

Looking at the most popular baby names by ethic group, the top African-American girl’s name was Kayla, the top Hispanic name was Ashley, and the top among white girls was Sarah. Top boy’s names for those three groups, respectively, were Joshua, Angel, and Michael.

Finally, my favorites in the unusual baby names category — there were ten little baby boys named Orion, and ten little girls named Star, born in New York in 2006. And 114 little Heavens, spelled backwards.

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in Baby Name News, New York Baby Names | Leave a comment

Mapping Baby Names Around The World

Posted on October 6, 2007 by neil

There’s a brand new interactive baby name site that takes full advantage of techology that lets skilled developers blend maps with content. (So-called ‘mashups.’).  The site is called Popular Baby Names, and it lets you visually see the distribution of baby names around the world via maps.

It sounds like a lot of fun, and I’ve seen some good press on it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t log into the site myself, because I’m using an older version of Internet Explorer, and I don’t want to upgrade because I don’t like IE 7. Call me a Neanderthal. (Hey, has anyone ever done a list of Neanderthal baby names?).

Anyway, if you’re using IE 7, Safari, or Firefox, go see the site. It should be fun!

Digg!

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: ,

Posted in Baby Name News | Leave a comment

Sounding Off About Baby Names

Posted on September 26, 2007 by neil

It’s always interesting to see someone “sound off” about baby names. I came across an article where the author gave his opinion about the best and the worst of recent baby name trends.

The author loves traditional English names (although not all of his examples, Abigail for instance, are exactly English in origin!). He dislikes “trendy, modern” names — think Britney. Again though, some of his examples don’t fit his gripe — Courtney is not exactly a “trendy, modern” name — it’s Old French in origin. But what really seems to infuriate the writer is the practice of using traditional surnames as first names. Hmm… doesn’t seem that offensive to me.

But speaking of sounding off — what are your pet peeves in baby naming? Leave a comment and let everyone know which baby naming trend makes you mad!

Thanks to everyone who participated in our latest poll — “Will Ava be the new number 1 girl’s name for 2007?” Nearly 40% of you think it will — and remember, Emily has been the number one girls’ name for a decade, so it’s big news if Ava is the new top girls’ name. We’ll find out for sure in May, 2008.

Digg! Save to del.icio.us Technorati Tags: ,

Posted in Baby Name News | 1 Comment

Play The Celebrity Baby Name Game!

Posted on September 20, 2007 by neil

Every once in a while we get to brag about something we’ve done here on our site — and this is one of those times!

Proudly introducing our newest widget — The Celebrity Baby Name Game! It’s a widget for blogs or websites, and the game is to guess the correct celebrity baby name from the four choices underneath a given set of celebrity parents. It’s a lot of fun — stats show that people play between five and ten times!

One thing that won’t happen – you won’t run out of questions. We have well over a thousand names in our Celebrity Baby Names Database - which is where the questions come from - and we add new ones every day.

Have fun — and if you really like it, add it to your blog, or site! Coming soon — the Celebrity Baby Name widget for Facebook!

Digg!

 Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Posted in Celebrity Baby Names | Leave a comment