No surprises in the top ten baby names for boys with the most recent stats from the Social Security Administration.
With no new entries in the boys' top 10, it's just a case of names shuffling around a little.
This just goes to show how classic and enduring these names are.
Want to pick a popular boy's name? With this group, you can be almost certain they aren't going to lose their popularity any time soon.
Jacob retains his title for the ninth year in a row.
Michael spends his ninth year in second spot.
And Ethan moves up to take third place.
Top 10 baby names for boys in the United States:
1. Jacob It's Jacob's ninth year as the number one boy's baby name in the United States. And he's also in top spot as a twin name, with Jacob and Joshua leading the twin baby name rankings.
Last year was a little afraid of repeating myself by saying that Jacob would be king again in 2007... and you know what? I think he'll be king in 2008 as well!
A similar name, Jacoby, ranks at 620 within the top one thousand baby names.
2. Michael What can we say - 38 years at number one, followed by his now ninth year at number two. Michael's here for the long haul, and he doesn't look like wanting to move any place else... unless Ethan can catch up.
3. Ethan Congratulations Ethan - this is your best year yet! Entering the top 100 baby names in 1989, Ethan found himself in fourth spot last year. In the competitive top rankings, he's done well to move up one place. It will be interesting to see what happens to him next time round.
4. Joshua Joshua moves down one place, making way for Ethan above. This won't worry Joshua too much - he's used to being in fourth place, or almost anywhere within the top ten group, where he's been since 1979.
However - it doesn't look like Joshua's ever going to get to number one at this rate. The shorter form of the name Josh, ranks in its own right in 728th position.
5. Daniel Daniel will be happy to be in fifth place - he was last here in 1990, and this is the highest he's ever ranked. He's been moving around within the top twenty since 1952... so you begin to see how these top names have an incredible pedigree.
6. Christopher Here's another classic - with a presence in the top ten since 1967. Christopher goes up one place, and I bet he's pretty pleased - he looked as if he might drop out of the top ten not long ago, but look at him now!
Similar names in the top 1000 list include Cristofer at 811th spot, Cristopher, ranked 469, and Kristopher - at 419.
7. Anthony It looked as though Anthony might decide to leave the top ten group this year, but no - he's moved up two places from last year, making this his third year within the top 10 baby names for boys. Antony (without the "h") ranks at 802.
8. William Amazingly enough, good old William ranked at number 2 non-stop between1880 and 1920. He left the top ten in 1976 - and recently came back in, this year moving up two places from his number ten position last time round.
9. Matthew Quite a drop for Matthew this year, from fifth to ninth place, where he last found himself in 1977. Could be a hiccup - or could signal that Matthew's top ten days are coming to an end. Mathew with a single "t" comes in at 348 in the rankings.
10. Andrew Andrew has moved from eighth to tenth spot this year, and may accompany Matthew out of the group next time... we'll just have to wait and see!
