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Thinking of naming your baby Jacob , Ava or Liam , but dashed to learn that all three are top-10 monikers ? Take a deep breath : Even today ’s Jacobs ( the No . 1 name for boys ) are n’t doom to a life of going by their first name and last initial .
That ’s because parents are progressively moving away frompopular names , aiming for choices that will make their kids stand out , said Laura Wattenberg , generator of " The Baby Name Wizard : A wizardly Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby " ( Three Rivers Press , 2013 ) .
You named mewhat?
" This yr , Sophia is the only name in America that was given to at least 1 percent of boy or young woman , " Wattenberg state LiveScience . " Back in the fifties , you would have had 40 different names [ each ] commit to 1 pct of boy or girls . " [ See the Top 25 Baby Names of 2012 ]
Among all this creative assignment , however , trends do emerge : parent bonk vowel - filled melodic name for girls , as revealed by the2012 most popular baby nameslist , released May 9 by the Social Security Administration ( SSA ) . And bluff , aspirational public figure , such as Major and even Messiah , are on the rise for male child .
Fast risers
The SSA depth psychology find that Major was the fastest - rise baby name in the top 500 for boy ( it now stomach at No . 483 ) , perhaps a nod to U.S. nationalism and love for armed services . The administration list Arya as thetop - develop namefor fille , but officials miss the real story , Wattenberg said . The SSA algorithm does n’t admit name that were n’t in the top 1,000 a yr before , she said , so it pretermit the real fastest - riser main : Cataleya .
Cataleya was n’t even in the top 1,000 for girl names in 2011 , but it hit No . 479 in 2012 . The name is Spanish and is the name of a line of orchidaceous plant ; more tellingly , it was the name of a distaff assassin diddle by Zoe Saldana in the 2011 action thriller " Colombiana . "
" It ’s a groovy exemplification of how celebrities definitely have a Brobdingnagian influence on names , but it ’s really about style , " Wattenberg say . " It ’s about parents athirst for any unfermented novel idea that fits their existing name mode sense . "
For girls , that sense include a lovemaking for melody and vowels — see perennial top-10 favorites Olivia , Isabella and Sophia .
Other climb name for girls let in short - but - subdued Mila , Aria and similar styles , Wattenberg read . get up boy names , such as Liam , Eli and Leo , have the same gentle vowel sound and miss unvoiced consonants .
public figure in stylus
Though parents have traditionally been more conservative about boy name , the old criterion for male person are crumbling .
" Increasingly , boys ' epithet are open to a lot of the same trend pressure that girls ' name are , " Wattenberg said . For example , about a third of the boys born in the United States get a name ending in the letter N.
Names such as King and Major have n’t had much in the way of popularity since the 19th one C , Wattenberg articulate — and no one back then dare name their baby Messiah , No . 387 on the list today .
Jacob still dominate in the No . 1 spot for boys , as it has since 1999 , but even as it remains the most popular , fewer boys get the name than they used to . pop gens , it turns out , aresimply less popularthan they were in the past tense .
" Today Jacob is still number one , " Wattenberg said . " But it ’s at the storey that made it number 26 back in 1989 . "
The increasing diversity of names today means that even also - rans from the past , such as Dennis or Brenda , were give to more baby than even the most popular name calling of today , she said .
Even as many parent try for something different , though , tastes mysteriously run in tandem . Not too many parents are rush out to name their sons Egbert or their daughters Gladys . Those names just do n’t jibe today ’s styles .
" It ’s just this queer experience to realise that our taste are so communal , peculiarly in a domain of a function like names , where you ca n’t point to where it ’s coming from , " Wattenberg said . " There ’s no advertizing , there are no real tastemakers , but we all learn the same thing as attractive . Even if we do n’t wish the accurate name , we ’re using the same sounds . "
