Do you have a little Aiden or Isabella scampering about the
house? Then congratulations, your kid has the most popular name for 2008 (and condolences
for all those hate jumping on trends).
According to Parent.com, the top influencers for names in
2008 were President Elect Obama, Brittany Spears, television and the Twilight
series. Oh, and the letter M.
The top 10 names for girls?
1.
Isabella
2. Ava
3. Emily
4.
Elizabeth
5.
Abigail
6.
Madison
7. Emma
8.
Addison
9.
Madeline
10.
Olivia
And for boys:
1. Aidan
2.
Jayden
3. Jacob
4.
Michael
5. Ethan
6. Caden
7. James
8. Caleb
9.
Andrew
10.
Matthew
From the Parents.com press release:
Presidential Baby Names:
Barack Obama won the presidency – but did he also start a name trend? Malia,
Michelle and Barack -- which previously wasn't even in the top 500 -- all rose
in popularity from 2007 to 2008 (although Sasha fell in popularity), and we see
them continuing to climb the charts after the inauguration.
Ooops She Did It Again--The
Britney Comeback Effect: Parents are embracing the first and middle name Spears
chose for her second son, Jayden James.
Jayden is #2 and James is #7.
The influence of TV: The
boob tube can affect baby names – witness the popularity of Aidan (#1),
Carrie's loveable boyfriend on Sex and the City, or Addison (#8), the name of
the Grey's Anatomy doc who got her own spinoff, Private Practice, this year.
Last Names as First Names That Can Be Used For Boys and Girls: Avery, Logan, Riley and Peyton are all
climbing the lists. Last names as first names suggest power, prestige and
tradition.
First Timers Making the List: Aalyiah (#28) and Teagan (#44) made their debuts on the list for
girl's names. On the boy's side, Micah
(#41) and Tristan (#49) showed up on the list for the first time.
Book it: Twilight fever
has hit the baby name world too, as Edward and Bella, the names of the
star-crossed lovers in Stephanie Meyer's vampire series and now the feature
film, both rose in popularity last year.
Other names inspired by popular fiction are Madeline (#9) and Olivia
(#10).
"M" Names: Girl
names starting with "M" rank high on the list, like Madison (#6), Madeline
(#9), Makayla (#19), Mia (#21), MacKenzie (#22) and Michelle (#31).
Did your kids make the grade with any of these names? Do you
care? Do you prefer to have an out of the ordinary name for your child and isn’t
it true if enough parents use out of the ordinary names those names eventually turn
ordinary?
Check out Parent.com’s full article here: top baby names of 2008
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