2011 Top 10 Baby Names Plus

Well, it finally came out, and the rankings did not change as much as I thought they would.

1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Abigail
8. Madison
9. Mia
10. Chloe

I am disappointed that Abigail and Chloe are in the top ten. I really don't like these names. But I am happy that Emma and Olivia are in the top ten, because although they're really popular, I think they're pretty. I really thought Addison would make it into the top ten. Addison represents a lot of naming trends at the moment - starts with an A, ends in -son, has the nickname Addy, sounds like Allison. Oh well. I also should have stuck with my first guess that Emma and Isabella would rank higher than what I predicted.

1. Jacob
2. Mason
3. William
4. Jayden
5. Noah
6. Michael
7. Ethan
8. Alexander
9. Aiden
10. Daniel

I was only right about the ranks of Michael, Alexander and Daniel. I think a lot of us are fed up with Jayden, and a lot of us are probably frustrated that Twilight has made such a big impact in baby name trends. I think that's part of the reason why I also dislike the popularity of Mason, Chloe/Khloe, due to the Khardasians. The celebrity world influences naming to such an extent that the names don't seem original, substantial, or inspired. To elaborate, if I were to name my daughter Domenica, regardless of popularity (but its rarity being a plus), it would be after someone important and carry with it generations of rich history - an important part of her life. It would be substantial and valuable. However, if I were to name a daughter Isabella because of my love for Twilight (which I hate, by the way), it would only ever carry the importance of the story. The name might be pretty (which it is), but she may not like the book, and she'll share her name with some twenty thousands others, which a large portion was probably also named due to the book. I just feel like some of today's popular names are rather flimsy. Rant over.

I was right about Sophia topping the chart. A lot of name lovers thought that would happen. I predicted that Harper, Charlotte, Lila, Scarlett and Ruby would raise in popularity. Harper jumped from #118 to #54, Lila went down from #155 to #163, Charlotte went from #46 to #27, Scarlett jumped from #114 to #80, Scarlet went from #414 to #370, and Ruby only rose from #113 to #109. So I was only wrong about Lila, however, Lily only rose two places as well.

As for the boys, I said Jack, Jackson, Connor, Luke, Lucas, Caleb, Elijah, Brayden and Evan would rise in popularity. Here are the stats:

Jack 2010 - #45, 2011 #45
Jackson 2010 - #25, 2011 #23
Connor 2010 - #49, 2011 #54
Luke 2010 - #41, 2011 #39
Lucas 2010 - #35, 2011 #29
Caleb 2010 - #33, 2011 #32
Elijah 2010 - #18, 2011 #13
Brayden 2010 - #40, 2011 #37
Evan 2010 - #36, 2011 #40

So, as you can see, I placed some of my bets on the wrong horses. I had also been watching a few other names, though, further down the charts or not on them at all. I'll be talking about those in my next post.