The Most Popular Baby Names in the U.S.

on May 9, 2009 at 8:00 AM

How many babies do you know named Elvis? Probably not many. The Social Security Administration released its list of of the most popular baby names of 2008 and Elvis is 713 on the list. The name Barack has gotten more popular, but it's still no where near the top (it's number 2,409.

So what were the top baby names for baby girls and boys in 2008?

Emma is the most popular girls' name, knocked Emily out of the first-place spot (it had been the number one name for 12 years), and Isabella is the second most popular name. The name Miley is moving up on the list.

Jacob is the top name for boys and it has been for the past 10 years; the name Michael is the second most popular, and Ethan is third.

New girl names in the national top 1,000 included Isla (623), Mareli (718), Milagros (731), Dayami (750) and Nylah (821).

New boys names were Aaden (343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779) and Kymani (836).

If you want to see where your baby's name falls on the list, visit SSA.gov.

How popular is your baby's name?

About the author Suzanne Murray

is the Parenting & Political editor at The Stir/Moms Matter 2012.

Filed Under: baby names

Comments (19)

yakamoz

on May 9, 2009 at 8:58 AM

The name we picked for our little girl coming in June, Elisa, is #622 on the list. Yay! It's not overly popular! The middle name, Sabriye, is nowhere to be found.

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SamanthaAgain

on May 9, 2009 at 10:18 AM

I was going to name my son Ethan until I saw how high it was on the list.

RanaAurora

on May 9, 2009 at 2:11 PM

Those new names need to disappear. Ugh. Mashing letters together does not a name make, people.

My son's name has gone up to 340, and our upcoming-daughter's name is 280. *pout* Make them stop being popular!

AgentBrez

on May 9, 2009 at 4:01 PM

my oldest Clare is 679 b/c of the spelling. the more common spelling, Claire is 62. our youngest Nathaniel was at 77, and Nathan, what we call him was at 21.

Emmy_Dollface

on May 9, 2009 at 9:48 PM

Lydia was at 120-something and rising. Crap-o-la. :(

ZachsMom325

on May 10, 2009 at 1:19 AM

Zachary was # 42 and his middle name Christopher was # 9

Kristin2008

on May 10, 2009 at 1:44 AM

My dd is #5 and my ds is # 97. Both are common. (Kyle & Ava)

spamica

on May 10, 2009 at 4:41 AM

Jacking up the spelling of a common name or randomly putting letters together does not make the name more "unique." I think "trashtastic" is the word I would use.

on May 10, 2009 at 4:57 AM

Oh, andI can't believe so many people have named their child Nevaeh. Seriously? How did this satanic name get so popular? What's next Esidarap? Yoj? Lleh?