Tag Archive for ‘paris hilton’ at Baby Names Made Easy: The Complete Reverse-Dictionary of Baby Names

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A topic that comes up over and over again with readers is how to choose names that aren’t going to be too common. I’ve blogged in the past about ways to prevent choosing a name that will be popular in the future.

Here’s another great tool from Social Security to help parents. They’ve put out a handy ranking of the names that moved up the chart the most in the previous year. The 2009 stats aren’t due out for another couple months, but here is the data from 2008.

These are the names that showed the biggest increase in popularity from the previous year. What can this information tell you? In the post I mentioned earlier about predicting what names are going to be popular, one of my tips is to avoid names that are quickly rising on the popularity chart. This list helps you figure out what those names are!

So, if you’re looking for a name that will be unique, avoid the names on this list because they might be destined for even greater popularity in the years to come. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a trendy or stylish name, you might want to use one of these names.

No matter your goal, this is a list you need to know about.

Here goes…the top 20:

GIRLS’ BABY NAMES

KHLOE

MARLEE

MARELY

AUDRINA

MARLEY

DANNA

JASLENE

LILAH

PAISLEY

MILEY

LYLA

HARPER

DAYANA

VALENTINA

LONDON

MYLEE

JIMENA

LYRIC

KAYDEN

EMERY

BOYS’ BABY NAMES

JACOBY

KANE

BECKETT

PAXTON

KALE

AUGUST

BRAYLON

RYKER

KINGSTON

KOLTON

ZAYDEN

BRYCEN

RIVER

MILO

LANDYN

ALIJAH

CASH

ALVIN

JUDE

BYRON

What jumps out at me the most is that on the girl’s list there are three spelling variations of the name MARLEY and two variations of MILEY. These are names to avoid (no matter how you spell it) if you want to avoid popular names.

There’s some celebrity inspiration on this list — obviously MILEY Cyrus. We also have AUDRINA — it’s a beautiful name brought into the spotlight by Audrina Patridge of The Hills fame. No surprise that it caught the attention of parents. PAISLEY may be inspired by Brad Paisley (quite a creative baby namer himself with sons Huckleberry and Jasper).

On the boy’s side we have CASH — the snazzy name of Jessica Alba’s husband, Cash Warren. KINGSTON is the name of Gwen Stephani’s oldest son and it’s probably no accident that his name made it onto this list.

Follow the trends… the –en/-on sound at the end of boys’ names is quite hot and this list shows that loud and clear. There’s PAXTON, BRAYLON, KINGSTON, KOLTON, ZAYDEN, BRYCEN and LANDYN. That’s a little more than a third of all the names on the list.

Another trend we see represented here is the popularity of location names with LONDON on the girl’s list. Ditto for KINGSTON on the boy’s list.

Other names that made the list that may increase in popularity next year:

GIRLS’ BABY NAMES

AUDREY

CORA

DELILAH

FIONA

LILA

MALIA

PENELOPE

PEYTON

STELLA

VIOLET

BOYS’ BABY NAMES

EASTON

ELI

ELLIOT

FINN

GRADY

GRAYSON/GREYSON

HOLDEN

HUDSON

JASPER

KELLEN

LEVI

MADDOX

WESTON

WYATT

What names dropped in popularity? Here are the 20 names that took the biggest slide:

GIRLS’ BABY NAMES

ANGELIQUE

YOSELIN

JADEN

KIRSTEN

ANAHI

ALISSA

JULISSA

ASHLEE

MEREDITH

PAULINA

DAYANARA

DIAMOND

JAIDEN

RACHAEL

JOSELYN

ABRIL

PARIS

MEGHAN

JADYN

RYAN

BOYS’ BABY NAMES

ALDO

BRANDEN

OSVALDO

LELAND

BILLY

NOE

RODNEY

JAYLIN

FELIPE

TOBIAS

CAMRON

NATHANAEL

ORLANDO

TERRANCE

JALEN

JADON

CYRUS

SCOTT

JESSIE

CARL

We see some celebrity backlash here (which always happens eventually) — ORLANDO, CYRUS, PARIS, ASHLEE, JADEN/JAIDEN/JADYN.

Now it’s your turn! What do you think?

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You can also follow me on TWITTER to get up-to-the-minute celebrity baby name news, name trivia, interesting names I come across and so much more…don’t miss out! I’m @babynameauthor!

♥ Amanda

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

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I’m back with another edition of ASK AMANDA. This is a topic that I know is on the mind of many soon-to-be-parents!

Ask Amanda

Q: My top baby name list used to include Emma, Jacob and Zachary. All of those names have become really popular now. I still love those names, but I don’t want my baby to have a name that’s too common. How do I avoid picking a name that will end up on the top of the charts?

A: You have really good taste in names. The trouble is that you share that good taste with a lot of other people. Emma, Jacob and Zachary are all great names!

Some parents want to pick popular names, some don’t mind one way or the other, but for those that do … how do you choose a cool baby name that you love while making sure it stays unique?

I don’t offer any guarantees, but here are some tip-offs that a name is on its way to becoming ultra-popular:

1. CELEBRITY NAME

If there’s a new celebrity on the scene with an interesting or unusual name, it’s likely the name will increase in popularity.

Ex: MILEY Cyrus (MILEY wasn’t even on the charts before 2007) and ISLA Fisher (before 2008 ISLA hadn’t been in the Top 1000 since 1908)

It’s also possible that the name will become so closely associated with the celebrity that your baby’s name will always bring to mind that celebrity.

Some celebs are so closely associated with their unique first names that they don’t even need a last name to be recognizable — think PARIS, TIGER, OPRAH and BEYONCE.

2. CELEBRITY BABY NAME

Similar to #1 above, if a celebrity picks an interesting baby name, you can almost guarantee it will become more popular.

Ex: BROOKLYN Beckham created a wave of baby Brooklyns. Interestingly, more for girls than boys. Possibly because the name’s parts — BROOK and LYN — are each more associated with girls’ names.

Now, note that I said interesting baby name, not odd baby name.

Celebrity baby names like KAL-EL Cage and PILOT INSPEKTOR Lee haven’t had a similar impact on parents-to-be because these names are just too off-beat for the average parent — but you didn’t need me to tell you that.

3. CHECK THE NAME’S HISTORY ON THE SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE

The Social Security website is a great tool for soon-to-be-parents. You can search names to see how popular they’ve been over the years.

It’s obvious that a name is popular if it’s already in the Top 25 most popular names, but what if it’s not? Are you parents seeking unique names safe then? Not necessarily…

If the name you’re considering wasn’t in the Top 500 list 5years ago, but then debuted at 300, moved up to 100 within a few years and this year is at 60, it’s a good bet that it might be even more popular next year.

Watch out for these fast risers! If a name has been increasing in popularity quickly, even though it hasn’t reached the top of the charts yet, there’s a good chance it will before long.

4. CHECK NAMES FROM POPULAR TV SHOWS, MOVIES AND BOOKS

Remember that scene from Splash starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah where Tom’s character tells Daryl’s character than she needs to pick a human name because no one can pronounce her mermaid name? He suggests a few names, including Jennifer, Joanie and Linda. Then she sees the street sign for Madison Avenue and says she wants her name to be Madison. It’s a funny moment in the movie because at that time in our history Madison wasn’t a first name and Tom’s character tells her so!

I suspect a lot of people who saw that movie in 1984 fell in love with the name Madison because it was different and interesting. Now 25 years later the name that wasn’t a name has become quite popular — it hit the Top 10 in 1997 and hasn’t looked back since.

So before you choose a name, have a look and see whether it’s the name of a character in a popular TV show, movie or book.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the name CULLEN grows in popularity now that Stephenie Meyer has used it as the surname for her popular vampire family and the dreamy Edward Cullen in her mega-popular Twilight series.

Is anyone else out there on Team Jacob or is it just me…?

All that said, you can’t completely safeguard yourself from all future popular names.

You could choose the perfect, unique name for your baby this year, but if the rumors are true and the next Sex and the City movie features Carrie and Mr. Big having a baby that they just happen to name the exact same perfect, unique name you chose this year, there isn’t a whole lot you can do — you will be ahead of the curve though for having chosen it first.

Good luck!

♥ Amanda

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

Tag Archive for 'paris hilton'

ASK AMANDA: How to Avoid Using the Next Most Popular Name

Tag Archive for 'paris hilton'

Baby Names Soaring in Popularity

ASK AMANDA: How to Avoid Using the Next Most Popular Name