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jmcclain19
01-24-2005, 03:19 AM
Sure we can have some fun with this one.

Was linked in my hotmail as a hot story of the day

http://family.msn.com/tool/article.aspx?dept=baby&sdept=bpc&name=bc_122904_babynames2004&GT1=5974


After three years at the top, Emily has been unseated by Emma as the most popular girl name in the United States, while Jacob remained the nation's most popular boy name for the fourth year in a row. The BabyCenter Baby Names List, which is the largest private list available, was compiled from more than 310,000 BabyCenter members who had babies in 2004. Our list combines names with the same pronunciation but different spellings to give a more accurate view of name popularity.

Although the most popular girl names shifted places, no new names entered the top 10 in 2004. For boys, Connor is new to the list, while Zachary has fallen out of the top group.


The top 10 baby names of 2004 (vs. 2003)

Girls' names

1. Emma (Emily)
2. Madison (Emma)
3. Emily (Madison)
4. Kaitlyn (Hannah)
5. Hailey (Hailey)
6. Olivia (Sarah)
7. Isabella (Kaitlyn)
8. Hannah (Isabella)
9. Sarah (Olivia)
10. Abigail (Abigail)

Boys' names

1. Jacob (Jacob)
2. Aidan (Aidan)
3. Ethan (Ethan)
4. Ryan (Matthew)
5. Matthew (Nicholas)
6. Michael (Joshua)
7. Tyler (Ryan)
8. Joshua (Michael)
9. Nicholas (Zachary)
10. Connor (Tyler)

creek14
01-24-2005, 07:22 AM
When I had creek jr, I refused to even consider names that were in the top 50.

Surprisingly, the name creek jr wasn't even in the top 100. :p:

GAC
01-24-2005, 08:20 AM
My kid's names are Aaron, Rachel, and Samuel. My Dad was kinda disappointed that none of us named any of our kids after relation (great grandparents, etc).

But you should see some of these people's names!!!... Sylvester, Vance, Phoebe, Ethel, Ned, Thelma, Alfred. And those are the tame ones! :lol:

My Dad was a big western hero buff. They were gonna name me Randolph Scott Clark! My one brother's middle name is Cassidy for Hopalong Cassidy. I guess it beats Gabby Hayes.

He was also into musicals too, so it could have been worse. My sister could have been Judy Garland, and I could've end up Nelson Eddy. :lol:

I did point out to my Dad that my oldest boy has the very same initials that he does "AGC", so that pleased him.

RedFanAlways1966
01-24-2005, 08:40 AM
Our baby was born Nov. 23, 2004... we chose McKenzie Sarah.

It didn't come from anywhere. No inspiration for it. My wife and I occasionally brainstormed on names after we found out about the pregnancy. We kind of liked the "Mc" thing. So we narrowed it down to McKaela (my idea) and McKenzie (wife idea) about 6 months into the pregnancy. We, believe it or not, flipped a coin to decide between those two. McKenzie was tails and lo-and-behold the toss showed tails. So McKenzie was it. Sarah as the middle name was decided b/c it is the name of my only sister who was also my wife's Maid of Honor and we felt the tribute to the baby's aunt was a nice touch.

We quickly realized that her initials (our last name begins with a "G") would be... MSG. We hope McKenzie likes Chinese food when she gets older!!

Johnny Footstool
01-24-2005, 09:21 AM
"Madison" always reminds me of the movie "Splash."

Steve4192
01-24-2005, 09:27 AM
I often wonder how these names work their way into the cultural consciousness.

I mean, how does Emma/Emily take two of the top three spots and where the heck did Aidan come from? Are we sure that this isn't the top 10 list for Scotland?

Red Leader
01-24-2005, 09:29 AM
I often wonder how these names work their way into the cultural consciousness.

I mean, how does Emma/Emily take two of the top three spots, and where the heck did Aidan come from? Are we sure that this isn't the top 10 list for Scotland?

I'm fairly certain that ever since Jennifer Aniston's character on Friends named her baby "Emma", the name went from about postion #190 to #1 overnight.

Unassisted
01-24-2005, 09:33 AM
When we had our second, we had a friend who had access to the statewide database of births, which included baby names. He printed out for us a list of the first names given to babies in the state that year sorted by frequency of use. There were some funny choices near the bottom of that list, but there was one that I will never forget. Someone actually named their kid "Turkey." :MandJ:

Roy Tucker
01-24-2005, 09:41 AM
Social Security has a web site that you can look up the historical popularity of a name. It's interesting to see names come in and out of vogue...

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

REDREAD
01-24-2005, 09:43 AM
where the heck did Aidan come from?

I've never even heard of the name Aidan before reading this thread..

Puffy
01-24-2005, 09:52 AM
My Dad was a big western hero buff. They were gonna name me Randolph Scott Clark! My one brother's middle name is Cassidy for Hopalong Cassidy. I guess it beats Gabby Hayes.



You just made me think of Blazing Saddles, whenever the town people of Rock Ridge mention Randolph Scott - great stuff!

Unassisted
01-24-2005, 09:59 AM
I've never even heard of the name Aidan before reading this thread..Classic Irish name, most famously affixed to the actor Aidan Quinn.

There are a lot of folks in the US who aspire to get back to their real or imagined Irish roots and selecting classic Irish names for the children seems like a great way to do it.

Lest anyone think I am making fun of the concept, I have a kid whose name falls in this category - common name, Irish spelling. Had he or his brother been a girl, he.... er, she would have had a different Irish name. :)

Red Leader
01-24-2005, 10:06 AM
I was glad to see that none of the names we chose for our sons:
Grant Alexander and Chad Antonio made the list.

We wanted them to have unique names and not be 1 of 40 "Grant's or Chad's" in their class.

Puffy
01-24-2005, 10:15 AM
Classic Irish name, most famously affixed to the actor Aidan Quinn.

There are a lot of folks in the US who aspire to get back to their real or imagined Irish roots and selecting classic Irish names for the children seems like a great way to do it.

Lest anyone think I am making fun of the concept, I have a kid whose name falls in this category - common name, Irish spelling. Had he or his brother been a girl, he.... er, she would have had a different Irish name. :)

I dig the name Seamus.

Red Leader
01-24-2005, 10:17 AM
I dig the name Seamus.

I suggested the name Angus to my wife when we had our second. Didn't even get time to pass through her brain before it was rejected.

creek14
01-24-2005, 10:20 AM
Mr creek wanted to name creek jr "Arthur". Arthur?!?! I wanted to name him "Chase". We rejected each others choices.

He also nixed Simeon and Cameron. My mom gave a big :thumbdown to Ian. She had been a 1st grade teacher for 30 years and said on the playgound the other kids would call him Peein' Ian. :eek:

Chip R
01-24-2005, 10:22 AM
You just made me think of Blazing Saddles, whenever the town people of Rock Ridge mention Randolph Scott - great stuff!
Randolph Scott?! ;)

traderumor
01-24-2005, 10:28 AM
I'm rather partial to the name Emily myself. They can't blame me for the drop to No. 3

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30077

And with names like Helen Isabelle, Sadie Pearl, and Minnie Mae in the family, we pick our own :)

Puffy
01-24-2005, 10:45 AM
I suggested the name Angus to my wife when we had our second. Didn't even get time to pass through her brain before it was rejected.

Yeah, I like Angus too - although I'm not scottish. I also like the name Zachary, but that has now been a fav of everyone which kinda sux.

For girls I like the name Soda. Soda Puffy. Has a nice ring to it.

OK, I'm single and its way too early for me to be thinking of baby names so I shall now bow out of these discussions gracefully.

Peace.

westofyou
01-24-2005, 10:47 AM
There are a lot of folks in the US who aspire to get back to their real or imagined Irish roots and selecting classic Irish names for the children seems like a great way to do it.

My neighbor..... 2 kids, Rowan and Teague

Danny Serafini
01-24-2005, 10:48 AM
My grandma really wanted to name my mom Frederika Wilhemina, but my grandpa shot it down. To this day my mom wonders what my grandma was thinking on that one.

Puffy
01-24-2005, 10:59 AM
We have a tradition in my family where we name the oldest son after the first name of the father's father and then the middle name is the last name of the mother's family.

My dad's first name was Benito. My mother's last name was Mussilino. They decided against naming me Benito Mussilino.

jmcclain19
01-24-2005, 11:05 AM
We have a tradition in my family where we name the oldest son after the first name of the father's father and then the middle name is the last name of the mother's family.

My dad's first name was Benito. My mother's last name was Mussilino. They decided against naming me Benito Mussilino.

My mom's side has this odd tradition of naming the males the same first name for at least one male in every generation, but keeping different middle names, so that there isn't any "Juniors" or "Thirds" around.

Makes it a little odd because you have four generations at a reunion and everyone of them has the same first name.

Red Leader
01-24-2005, 11:25 AM
My mom's side has this odd tradition of naming the males the same first name for at least one male in every generation, but keeping different middle names, so that there isn't any "Juniors" or "Thirds" around.

Makes it a little odd because you have four generations at a reunion and everyone of them has the same first name.


We have, or I should say, had that tradition as well, Josh, or at least some form of it. I am the 4th generation of Tony in our family, ie. my great grandfather's name was Anthony, my grandfather's name was Antonio, my fathers name is Anthony and my name is Anthony. We all go by "Tony" and we all have different middle names. I opted not to name either of my sons Tony because I like to be a little more original and don't like following the leader...I did give my second born the middle name of Antonio after my grandfather, who died the day we found out my wife was pregnant. That was a crazy day, emotionally.

jmcclain19
01-24-2005, 11:26 AM
We have, or I should say, had that tradition as well, Josh, or at least some form of it. I am the 4th generation of Tony in our family, ie. my great grandfather's name was Anthony, my grandfather's name was Antonio, my fathers name is Anthony and my name is Anthony. We all go by "Tony". I opted not to name either of my sons Tony because I like to be a little more original and don't like following the leader...I did give my second born the middle name of Antonio after my grandfather, who died the day we found out my wife was pregnant. That was a crazy day, emotionally.

Wow, no kidding, talk about a roller coaster of a day

macro
01-24-2005, 01:55 PM
My wife wants to name our next one Aiden if it's a boy. I'll have to show her this link.

Unassisted
01-24-2005, 02:08 PM
Minor tangent, but still related.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/01/24/yahoo.baby.reut/index.html

Reporter fired for baby Yahoo hoax

BUCHAREST, Romania (Reuters) -- A Romanian tabloid says it has fired a reporter for making up a story about a couple who named their son Yahoo as a sign of gratitude for meeting over the Internet.

Earlier this month, major Bucharest daily Libertatea published a story saying two Romanians had named their baby Yahoo and printed a picture of his birth certificate. The news was widely picked up on the Internet.

"It was the reporter's child's birth certificate, which he modified," said Simona Ionescu, Libertatea's deputy editor-in-chief. "We fired him."

She said Ion Garnod, who had worked for the paper for several years, had admitted inventing the story to look good.

"If it were real, it would have been a good story indeed," Ionescu said.

Garnod was not available for comment.

Red Heeler
01-24-2005, 03:17 PM
Mrs. Heeler and I are plucking names from both sides of the family for the soon-to-be Heeler, Jr. Her grandfather passed away two years ago just before Christmas. His last name was Evans. All of the men in my family for the past several generations have had the middle name of Curtis. Thus, we will be having Evan Curtis Heeler on or about Opening Day.

15fan
01-24-2005, 04:34 PM
We went to great lengths to give our daughter a name that:

A) Wasn't already taken by any member in any branch of either family

B) Sounded nice, but not contrived,

and

C) Could be shortened to a nickname that we liked

Thus, Gabrielle Elizabeth. Gabby for short.

KronoRed
01-24-2005, 05:01 PM
I would use NONE of those names, the 2 names me and the Mrs have picked out (Julia/Jeremy) are cuter then all of those..well except Matthew..Matthew is a rocking name :D

gilpdawg
01-25-2005, 01:36 PM
I've always thought it funny that old people have old sounding names. You know, like Thelma, or Betty. How is it gonna be in 60 years when all the current generation of kids are all old and there's gonna be little old ladies running around going, "hey, Shenequah, come here."

creek14
01-25-2005, 02:05 PM
I've always thought it funny that old people have old sounding names. You know, like Thelma, or Betty. How is it gonna be in 60 years when all the current generation of kids are all old and there's gonna be little old ladies running around going, "hey, Shenequah, come here."
People need to remember that. You really aren't naming a kid. They will only be a kid for 18 years. They are going to have to be an adult with that name for 70 years.

I knew a woman who named her kid Rocky. Not a nickname, that's his real name. Rocky?

KittyDuran
01-25-2005, 02:14 PM
I knew a woman who named her kid Rocky. Not a nickname, that's his real name. Rocky? One of my nephews nickname is Rocky (thus named because he was over 9lbs at birth) - his real name is Walter. Everyone except for family calls him Walter.

creek14
01-25-2005, 02:18 PM
One of my nephews nickname is Rocky (thus named because he was over 9lbs at birth) - his real name is Walter. Everyone except for family calls him Walter.
Nicknames are fine. Especially family nicknames. But some people need to think before they put names on legal documents.

BTW, the nickname my family calls me is a doozie.

REDREAD
01-25-2005, 02:19 PM
People need to remember that. You really aren't naming a kid. They will only be a kid for 18 years. They are going to have to be an adult with that name for 70 years.

I knew a woman who named her kid Rocky. Not a nickname, that's his real name. Rocky?

Yeah, a girl in my kids' class is named "Precious".. Note, that's her real name, not a nickname. It might be cute now, but what about when the kid grows up?

Roy Tucker
01-25-2005, 03:34 PM
Our litmus test was how the name sounded being announced at a graduation commencement.

If its greeted with snickers and giggles, then you probably want to rethink it.

BoydsOfSummer
01-25-2005, 07:35 PM
My first-born shall be named...Martin Joseph Boyd. Marty Joe Boyd for short.:D

creek14
01-25-2005, 07:38 PM
Our litmus test was how the name sounded being announced at a graduation commencement.

If its greeted with snickers and giggles, then you probably want to rethink it.
One of my litmus tests was how it would sound at Riverfront.

I'm not kidding. "Batting 4th for the Reds, the 3rd baseman, creek juniorrrrrrrrr."

TC81190
01-25-2005, 07:40 PM
7. Tyler

Dammit. I thought I had an original one.





Pfft.




Just kidding.

NoCalRed
01-25-2005, 09:49 PM
We have a tradition in my family where we name the oldest son after the first name of the father's father and then the middle name is the last name of the mother's family.

My dad's first name was Benito. My mother's last name was Mussilino. They decided against naming me Benito Mussilino.

Is your mother's name Carla ....lol :gac:

"..well except Matthew..Matthew is a rocking name "


I agree :)

TeamBoone
01-25-2005, 11:24 PM
Aiden was the name of one of Sarah Jessica Parker's boyfriends on Sex in the City (played by John Corbett). I also heard it somewhere else within the past week (on tv or in a book) but can't remember where.

mckenzie
01-26-2005, 09:23 AM
we chose zachary paul because it is strong and it grows up well. he got his middle name from my grandfather whose name was gene paul, and my mom who is paula gene.

i loved the name braden, but that got shot down very quickly. i always swore i would never name my child after someone, but then it became important once i had him.

it's very hard to choose a name. i never imagined!

Unassisted
02-12-2005, 11:42 AM
I just ran across this cool interactive Java tool that graphs the US popularity of hundreds of baby names from 1900-present. Takes a few seconds to load, but it's worth the wait.

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

WebScorpion
02-12-2005, 01:17 PM
My brother had a son in 2004, (well, his wife did technically, but you know what I mean,) and they named it Finnegan Patrick. We have an Irish last name, so it's not too bad, but that's probably not a name I would have chosen. Anyway, my wife and I are expecting in August and we have not decided on a name yet. For each of my children there has been a lot of discussion and thought and eventually one name just seems to be the 'right' one. Weird, huh? My first two are daughters and we had chosen male names for them (which we didn't use) in addition to female names, but I never feel that I'd like to use those names again either. Any opinions on this? Has anyone used a previously chosen name that wasn't used on a subsequent child?

RosieRed
02-12-2005, 10:59 PM
I just ran across this cool interactive Java tool that graphs the US popularity of hundreds of baby names from 1900-present. Takes a few seconds to load, but it's worth the wait.

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

That is a very cool site. Thanks for the link!

Unassisted
02-12-2005, 11:02 PM
That is a very cool site. Thanks for the link!With that site, I discovered that my name, my wife's name, my dad's name and her mother's name all peaked in the years we were born. That was kind of eerie. :eek:

RosieRed
02-12-2005, 11:19 PM
With that site, I discovered that my name, my wife's name, my dad's name and her mother's name all peaked in the years we were born. That was kind of eerie. :eek:

I noticed the same thing for the names I looked up. Very interesting.

M2
02-13-2005, 12:27 AM
Mr creek wanted to name creek jr "Arthur". Arthur?!?! I wanted to name him "Chase". We rejected each others choices.

He also nixed Simeon and Cameron. My mom gave a big :thumbdown to Ian. She had been a 1st grade teacher for 30 years and said on the playgound the other kids would call him Peein' Ian. :eek:

In college my friends and I used to show our appreciation of something done well by jamming the name Arthur in between a person's first and last name. For instance, if Joe Davis hit a 20-footer to seal up a pickup basketball game you'd point at him and call him "Joseph Arthur Davis!"

On a separate note, a kernel of wisdom handed down from my mother is to never tell anyone (not your mother, not your best friend, not your children) what you're going to name your coming child. Everyone thinks they've got a say in the matter. Once the baby arrives and everyone learns the name, they'll either come ot like the name or keep their traps shut if they don't.

MWM
02-13-2005, 12:37 AM
When we decided on the name Landon, my wife's family (not altogether sane to begin with) begged us to reconsider because it was a feminine name and that he would be more likely to wind up gay. I can't make this stuff up. That my wife came through that family so normal and level headed is one of the truly great modern marvels.

MWM
02-13-2005, 12:39 AM
I knew a woman who named her kid Rocky. Not a nickname, that's his real name. Rocky?

I also knew a femal Rocky. And to make things better, she married a guy named Cliff. I'm dead serious. I used to know them well.

M2
02-13-2005, 01:54 AM
When we decided on the name Landon, my wife's family (not altogether sane to begin with) begged us to reconsider because it was a feminine name and that he would be more likely to wind up gay.

By for a Y chromosome, my name would have been Rachel. My mother's mother decided that sounded like a black sharecropper's name (yes, grandma was a racist). You can tell a lot about a person's socio-economic standing by their racism. Had my family come from higher on the food chain, grandma surely would have gone off on an anti-Semitic jag. Anyway, that's where my mother devised the no-tell policy.

SandyD
02-13-2005, 12:36 PM
My great-grandparents wanted me to be named Theodosia, after my great-grandmother. My parents thought better of it. I will use Theodosia for a screen name sometimes, just because, but I am grateful I didn't grow up with it.

My sister would bounce names off of us when she was expecting the twins. Knowing my sister would do what she wanted anyway, we answered honestly, though respectfully.

She named them Andrew and Riley (both boys). She doesn't want Andrew to be called Andy, though. We'll see if that works out. I notice from the chart that there are more girls named Riley these days than boys. Hope that doesn't come back and haunt him later.

Nothing wrong with the name Landon, MWM. (Not that it matters what I think. Just saying. ;) )

After a co-worker had her son, she asked someone to e-mail everyone in the office for opinions. She wanted to name him Ja'lil. To go with her older son Ka'lil. Imagine the feedback she got from that. She settled on Bryce.

KronoRed
02-13-2005, 12:59 PM
As a female I would have been named Heather...I really lucked out :D

SandyD
02-13-2005, 01:07 PM
My parents hated the name game. They had yet to decide on names when I came along. They "stole" my name from my mom's hospital roommate. They had a boy, but had selected Sandra for a girl. My parents decided they liked it, and here I am.

I asked them what "boy" name they had in mind, and they had none. But at one point they decided to take a name from the first page and the last page in the baby book. That was Archibald Zebedee in the book they had, so they "threatened" me with that.

RosieRed
02-13-2005, 02:21 PM
I was going to be named Jason if I were a boy. Two years after I was born, my aunt had a baby boy and named him Jason ... thus ruining my parents' "boy name." I think that is why people should keep baby names to themselves, so no one can steal them! ;)

Scrap Irony
02-13-2005, 02:23 PM
My father tried to name my twin sister and I Bruce Wayne and Sally Jane, but a nurse in the Madison, Indiana, hospital wherein we were born decided to wait until my mother woke up so as to verify these choices.

But for the common sense of one nurse, I'd be Batman.

RedsBaron
02-13-2005, 02:34 PM
People need to remember that. You really aren't naming a kid. They will only be a kid for 18 years. They are going to have to be an adult with that name for 70 years.

I knew a woman who named her kid Rocky. Not a nickname, that's his real name. Rocky?
A couple of brothers I went to high school with had the real first names of Rocky and Stony. I always wondered if their sister was named Pebbles.
A few years ago I defended a personal injury suit filed by Stony-he told me his sister wasn't named Pebbles or any other "rock" name.

MWM
02-13-2005, 02:50 PM
What does everyone think about the Saven? Or Soda? :pimp:

SandyD
02-13-2005, 04:42 PM
I think I'd avoid giving a child a name that was difficult to spell or a name with punctuation.

gonelong
02-13-2005, 09:16 PM
In college my friends and I used to show our appreciation of something done well by jamming the name Arthur in between a person's first and last name. For instance, if Joe Davis hit a 20-footer to seal up a pickup basketball game you'd point at him and call him "Joseph Arthur Davis!"

Small world, we did the same thing with Q. If we were watching the same game, we were all yelling Joe Q. Davis!


On a separate note, a kernel of wisdom handed down from my mother is to never tell anyone (not your mother, not your best friend, not your children) what you're going to name your coming child. Everyone thinks they've got a say in the matter. Once the baby arrives and everyone learns the name, they'll either come ot like the name or keep their traps shut if they don't.

Sage advice. One of my buddies told her mother-in-law they were CONSIDERING naming their baby after someone in the MIL's family. Went with something else, caught considerable grief for their decision.

Another of my buddies gave everyone their top boys/girls name. When they had a girl, one of our other friends had a boy and "stole" their boy name.

Not to mention, if you tell everyone you want to name your child xxxx they will bore you to death with stories of the xxxx that they know, few of them flattering.

GL

KronoRed
02-13-2005, 10:22 PM
What does everyone think about the Saven? Or Soda? :pimp:
Only if the last name is Pop :D

HotCorner
02-14-2005, 10:55 AM
When we were brainstorming for names, I was jokingly trying to come up with initials that ended in 'L'.

So I say to Mrs. 2844, how about Nathaniel Franklin? She says to my suprise, "I like it. I like it a lot!"

I then informed her that his initials would be NFL. She thought I was crazy but said "I still like it."

I actually had to fight against it.