The Most Popular Baby Names of 2011
Sophia and Jacob are the most popular baby names of 2011, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Yes, the SSA. They lure people over to their website to see the names hoping they stay to learn about other services.
Back to the names.
Sophia apparently beat out Isabella, which was the most popular name the previous two years.
Isabella was one of my favorite names when I was pregnant with my now 3 1/2 year old. He turned out to be a boy, so I dodged a bullet there.
Being named Jennifer, I cringe every time I hear about another popular baby names list coming out. I just hope my boys’ names aren’t on it. According to the SSA, Jennifer ranks as the fourth most popular girls name between 1912-2011.
It gets annoying when you have a popular name. You always have to use the first initial in your last name.
Thus, the name of this website – another jennifer.
Matthew, my husband’s name, is ranked 13th among the most popular boys names.
Our parents weren’t very original.
So far, I haven’t seen my boys’ names in the top 20. Phew.
The sad part about the list? The name Mason jumped to number 2 on the boys side, possibly due to the fact that reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian’s son is named Mason. Also, the fastest riser on the girls’ list may come from Briella Calafiore, the blonde reality star hairdresser from cable TV’s “Jerseylicious.”
Yikes. I think we should stick to the biblical names. It’s much easier to explain the origin.
Who knows. Maybe we’ll see a website pop up in 35 years called another sophia.
Do you have a popular name? Where do you rank?
Michelle says
May 22, 2012 at 9:01 amI’m with you Jennifer. How many Michelle’s do you know? I’m like, one in ten. While our son’s name is pretty popular, we wanted our daughter’s to be a bit different. I don’t even think her name is on the list, but apparently her middle name is (Brielle).
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anotherjennifer says
May 22, 2012 at 9:55 amI hadn’t even heard of the name Brielle! Amazing how pop culture influences our names. The popularity of Jennifer in the 70s is attributed to the movie Love Story whose main character was named Jennifer. Go figure.
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Melinda @ LookWhatMomFound says
May 22, 2012 at 10:47 amMaybe it’s a location thing too because in my daily travels I’m finding more and more kids with vintage and family names. BUT my sisters are jennifer and kim, super popular names way back in t he day
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anotherjennifer says
May 22, 2012 at 2:23 pmThe SSA site actually has a search you can do by location. So, yes, I think there are certain names that are more popular in particular states. Interesting stuff!
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Amber says
May 22, 2012 at 2:49 pmI could never name a boy Jacob now after Twilight ruined the name :/ Then everyone would be like, “Oh, you named him after the werewolf!”
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anotherjennifer says
May 23, 2012 at 9:07 amOne of the girls names we liked in the past was Mailee….that was before Mylie Cyrus. Good thing we had boys!
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Nicole says
May 22, 2012 at 7:37 pmThis is why I wanted to name D. “Marmaduke.”
anotherjennifer says
May 22, 2012 at 8:13 pmNice! I don’t believe I saw Marmaduke on there. 🙂
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Amy says
May 23, 2012 at 1:02 pmJennifer is a beautiful name and very popular! I don’t think there was one class in school or collage where there was not a Jennifer present. You should be proud! =) My name is…well Amy is what people call me since they can’t pronounce my real name. I’m not into the whole Jacob and Bella thing but hey that’s just me. If I am blessed with a daughter I will name her Amina (A me nah) as far as boy names go…I really don’t know but when the time comes I’m sure I’ll come up with something hard which my child will hate me for hehe.
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Frugal in WV says
May 26, 2012 at 6:47 pmOne of my kids has a Welsh name and the other an Irish name, since those are the countries that my husband and mine families are from. The biggest problem that we’ve had is getting anyone to pronounce either of their names right, especially my youngest, it ends up sounding nothing like it should 🙂
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anotherjennifer says
May 28, 2012 at 1:25 pmIt’s so hard to find a good name. You don’t want to have the typical names, yet you want people to be able to get the name right as well. Too stressful!
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