Top Baby Names in 2008 Announced!

Cole Gamble — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT

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?

And for boys:

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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