Top 1000 FAQ

1. How do you read the tables?

The tables are arranged like this:

This is the name's RANK in the top 700	this is how many babies were named all of the spellings of the name combined.	This is the most common spelling of the name	This is how many babies were named the most common spelling of the name.	These are other spellings of the name that appeared in the top 700. The numbers in parentheses after the name are how many babies were named this during the year the table is for.
rank	# given total	Name	# given	Alternate Spellings
1	26,545	Jacob	(25,347)	Jakob	(1,198)
2	24,457	Aidan	(9,608)	Aiden	(8,946)	Ayden	(2,679)	Aden	(1,179)

1. Where do you get your information?

This information comes from the Social Security Administration's Baby Name Page. It is based on the Social Security card applications for children born within the year.

2. Why isn't it as accurate as in previous years?

In 1997, the SSA's baby naming website project was started by Mike Shackleford. He, along with the next guy who took over his job, were kind enough to send me the long list of all the babies born in the USA down to 17 instances (that means that 17 or more babies had to be given a certain name for it to show up on the list). Unfortunately, the SSA doesn't give out this information anymore, so I've been using what's on the website (names down to 241 instances for girls, and 174 instances for boys). Basically, this list isn't perfect, but I think it gives a better overall picture of names than other websites.

3. What difference does it make that you don't have names down to 17 instances?

Because I'm grouping these names by spelling, the names with the most spellings will not be accurate. For example, in 2005, the name Jayden has 9 different spellings in the top 700 for boys, and 5 different spellings for girls. Since this name has so many spellings, chances are it would rank much higher overall if you could see all the different spellings that just 20, 50, or even 100 people used. Names with only one dominant spelling (such as Emma, Amanda, Peter, etc.) wouldn't have their rankings suffer, but newer, more creative names suffer from being undercounted.

4. Why group names by spelling?

It is more accurate to get an overall picture of a name's popularity by counting variant spellings. For example, without counting varying spellings, the top 10 for 2005 looks like this:

rank	boys	girls
1	Jacob	Emily
2	Michael	Emma
3	Joshua	Madison
4	Matthew	Abigail
5	Ethan	Olivia
6	Andrew	Isabella
7	Daniel	Hannah
8	Anthony	Samantha
9	Christopher	Ava
10	Joseph	Ashley

With spelling groupings, the top 10 looks a little different:

Rank	BOYS	GIRLS
1	Jacob, Jakob	Emily, Emely, Emilee, Emilie, Emmalee
2	Aidan, Aiden, Ayden, Aden, Adan, Aydan, Aydin, Aedan, Adin	Madison, Madisyn, Madyson, Maddison
3	Michael, Micheal, Mikel	Emma
4	Joshua	Hailey, Haley, Haylee, Hayley, Hailee, Haylie, Haleigh, Hailie, Halie, Hayleigh
5	Matthew, Mathew	Kaitlyn, Katelyn, Caitlyn, Caitlin, Katelynn, Kaitlin, Kaitlynn, Katlin, Katelin
6	Nicholas, Nicolas, Nickolas, Nikolas	Sophia, Sofia
7	Ethan, Ethen	Abigail, Abbigail, Abigayle, Abigale, Abagail
8	Andrew	Olivia, Alivia
9	Christopher, Kristopher, Cristopher, Cristofer	Hannah, Hanna, Hana
10	Daniel	Isabella, Izabella, Isabela

When you group spellings together, you see that the names Hayley (previously at #26) and Kaitlyn (previously #34), are actually in the top 5 for popularity when all the spellings are taken into consideration. Samantha, Ava, and Ashley are no longer in the top 10, at #15, #16, and #13 respectively. My niece's name is Mikala, which hardly ever registered in the top 100, so my sister thought she was coming up with something unique. However, when you add Michaela/Mikayla/Makayla etc, the name is #25 this year-- much more popular than anyone thought!

5. How do you come up with the spelling groupings?

Putting different spellings of names together can be quite easy, or it can be very challenging. For example, we all would pronounce Hayley, Hailey and Hailee the same. What about Hali? I know one that pronounces it like Hailey, though it looks more like Halley. In ambiguous instances, I look at spelling trends forst. Spelling popularity tends to follow patterns-- people will change one letter of a name first, then change another letter, so generally slightly different spellings, like Kassandra for Cassandra would be more common than, say, Kasaundrah. This isn't a hard and fast rule, it's just a guideline to go by. Also, the more old-fashioned sounding a name, the more likely it is to have fewer spellings. Classics like Sarah, Rachel, Mary, Elizabeth, Emma, etc. only have a few different spellings.This isn't ALWAYS the case, though-- just look at Emily. In 2000, we saw Emily (25714), Emilee (920), Emely (603), Emilie (563), Emmalee (225), Emalee (122), Emiley (67), Emili (66), Emilly (57), Emmaleigh (56), Emeli (46), Emileigh (41), Emelie (40), Emalie (39), Emaleigh (33), Emmalie (28), Emmily (26), Emylee (22), Emmalea (20), Emmaly (19), and Emaly (18).

Basically, what it comes down to is that if you had 10 different people grouping these together, you'd probably get 10 different results. I do the best I can, and try to at least stay consistent over the years.

Right now I'm being troubled particularly by Mia and Maya. What is Miah? How about Miya? Mia is a much more popular name than Maya, but it seems to be used predominantly in Latin communities.

HOME