Every year, right around Mother's Day, the Social Security Administration posts their ranking of popular baby names. The top 50 baby names listed below reflect how popular a name was in 2010 based on that particular spelling. The names appear in rank order with boy's name first followed by girl's name.
It is important to understand that on the SSA list each unique spelling gets a separate ranking on the chart. So names that have multiple spellings actually appear less popular than they actually are, and names that only have 1 or 2 spellings may appear more popular than they are. So if you are choosing a name for your baby and popularity is an important factor for you, take a glance at popularity that groups names of similar pronunciation but different spelling together, read the following:
Top 10 Baby Names
All in all, there wasn't any major differences in the Top 10 list from 2009 to 2010. The girls' names are all the same, just in slightly different order. On the boy's list, Aiden and Anthony eked up a spot or two, nudging out Christopher and Joshua.
1 Jacob and Isabella2 Ethan and Sophia
3 Michael and Emma
4 Jayden and Olivia
5 William and Ava
6 Alexander and Emily
7 Noah and Abigail
8 Daniel and Madison
9 Aiden and Chloe
10 Anthony and Mia
Popular Baby Names 11-20
The one name in this bracket of names that took a significant jump on the list was Mason, who surged up the list by 19 points, but all the others should not come as too much of a surprise. You'll note that Addison and Madison (#6) seem to be connected to the popular naming trend of using boy's names on girls.
11 Joshua and Addison12 Mason and Elizabeth
13 Christopher and Ella
14 Andrew and Natalie
15 David and Samantha
16 Matthew and Alexis
17 Logan and Lily
18 Elijah and Grace
19 James and Hailey
20 Joseph and Alyssa
Names Ranked 21-30
Liam climbed 19 spots this year, whereas all the other names simply danced around spots similar to where they ranked last year.
21 Gabriel and Lillian22 Benjamin and Hannah
23 Ryan and Avery
24 Samuel and Leah
25 Jackson and Nevaeh
26 John and Sofia
27 Nathan and Ashley
28 Jonathan and Anna
29 Christian and Brianna
30 Liam and Sarah
Names 31 - 40
Of note is the fall of the girl's name, Taylor, which dropped 14 points. This unisex name started rapidly climbing the girl's chart in the early 90's, peaking at the #6 position between 1994-1996. It then began falling down the chart with a serious drop this year. Similar patterns are being seen in names like Taylor, (ie boys' names being used on girls).
31 Dylan and Zoe32 Landon and Victoria
33 Caleb and Gabriella
34 Tyler and Brooklyn
35 Lucas and Kaylee
36 Evan and Taylor
37 Gavin and Layla
38 Nicholas and Allison
39 Isaac and Evelyn
40 Brayden and Riley
Final Top 50 Baby Names
It's in this last group of names that we see the most change from one year to the next. Owen and Connor made it into the top 50, whereas last year they just missed it by a nose. On the girl's list, Amelia, Khloe, Charlotte, Zoey and Bella all made the cut. The most impressive jumper on the list was Khloe, who moved up from #95. Her counterpart Chloe appears at position #9.
41 Luke and Amelia42 Angel and Khloe
43 Brandon and Makayla
44 Jack and Aubrey
45 Isaiah and Charlotte
46 Jordan and Savannah
47 Owen and Zoey
48 Carter and Bella
49 Connor and Kayla
50 Justin and Alexa
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