Baby boys' names march on in their traditional style, with Jacob at number one yet again and Alexander entering the top ten.
There are five new boys entering the top 100 lists: Brody, ranked 70th, Ayden, Josiah, Colton, and... finally... Eli - who has been in the top 1000 rankings non-stop since records began in 1880, and finally hits the big time in 100th place!
Leaving the top 100 in 2008... Seven little girls:
Haley
Nicole
Stephanie
Michelle
Jada
Molly
Jordan
...and five little boys:
Miguel
Antonio
Steven
Richard
Timothy
I know what you're asking...
What do these stats mean for you?
Maybe one of your children already bears one of the names in the top 100 baby names.
Or perhaps you are thinking about choosing one of these popular names... but...
"What happens if a name in this list becomes less popular?"
Absolutely nothing, really.
Remember this:
All the very popular names will, in time, become less popular.
There's nothing you can do about it!
And... in time... they will no doubt become popular again!
On the other hand, you might be asking yourself
"What happens if my "unique" name is rising in popularity?"
In this case, consider the following:
all unique names run the risk of becoming popular over time
your child will still bear a name specially selected by you
you will not be the first to tread this path!
Don't forget - whatever name you choose for your baby, it will become your baby's name. It won't be number 1 or number 48 or number 97. Once the name is given to a person, it ceases to be a number, meaning something quite different.
Chloe Up 6 places, Chloe grabs tenth ranking. She looks as though she's got her eye on an even higher place... and guess what? Her namesake Khloe "with a K" moved 469 places up to 196th rank in 2008, representing the biggest jump up the rankings for girls - she could be hoping for a little top 100 glory too, so however you spell it - this name is hot.
Leah With a non-stop appearance in the top 1000 baby names charts since 1880, Leah's been in and around the top 100 since 1979. Now ranked 41, she could be ready for prime time.
Aubrey Aubrey's still doing very well - up another 27 places, and now in the top 50 girls' names, ranked 42. This is Aubrey's third year on my "movers and shakers" list. As I said two years ago - "If you're looking for something different that may become popular - this could be the name for you." Go Aubrey!
Other girls' names to keep an eye on are
Allison
Makayla
Avery
Brooklyn
Kylie
Layla
Valeria
Mariah
More on last year's movers and shakers:
Sophie Only rose 8 places this year to rank at 74. I thought she might do better, but she's still moving in the right direction!
Bailey Bailey only moved up two places this year, to reach 82nd spot!
Jocelyn Oh dear - Jocelyn has dropped from 50th to 67th place this year. Still a lovely name though!
Barack Baby Barack isn't actually in the top 100 baby names lists - and he's not even in the top 1000 rankings! But... the stats show him zooming up the baby names charts in record time, leaping more than 10,000 places to reach 2,409th place in 2008. He'll be heading into the top 1000 next year for sure... or even higher!
Notable top 100 boys' names gaining in popularity:
Jayden
Aiden
Elijah
Brayden
Carter
Chase
Liam
Henry
Last year's picks:
Jayden Jayden keeps meeting my expectations of him - good boy! He's up another 7 places, now ranking 11 - just outside the top ten. Ranked at 62 in 2004, he's doing very well.
Brayden Again, more progress from this little boy, Brayden shot up 31 places for 2007, and in 2008 has increased his ranking by 13 places - now at 51!
Wyatt Wyatt's been around since the baby name records began, popping in and out of the top one thousand. He joined the top one hundred list in 2004, and increases his ranking from 69th to 62nd place.
OK - here we go - the 100 most popular baby names in the United States for 2008:
