Popular baby names in the United States, 2012

The #1 names in the nation are still Jacob and Sophia!

Here are the full top 50 lists:

Boy Names

Girl Names

1. Jacob, 18899 2. Mason, 18856 3. Ethan, 17547 4. Noah, 17201 5. William, 16726 6. Liam, 16687 7. Jayden, 16013 8. Michael, 15996 9. Alexander, 15105 10. Aiden, 14779 11. Daniel, 14143 12. Matthew, 13834 13. Elijah, 13719 14. James, 13271 15. Anthony, 13105 16. Benjamin, 12695 17. Joshua, 12522 18. Andrew, 12501 19. David, 12422 20. Joseph, 12404 21. Logan, 12390 22. Jackson, 12388 23. Christopher, 11777 24. Gabriel, 11442 25. Samuel, 11290 26. Ryan, 10863 27. Lucas, 10616 28. John, 10505 29. Nathan, 10357 30. Isaac, 9928 31. Dylan, 9920 32. Caleb, 9867 33. Christian, 9530 34. Landon, 9296 35. Jonathan, 9253 36. Carter, 9202 37. Luke, 8922 38. Owen, 8630 39. Brayden, 8451 40. Gavin, 8203 41. Wyatt, 8159 42. Isaiah, 8044 43. Henry, 8006 44. Eli, 7998 45. Hunter, 7967 46. Jack, 7877 47. Evan, 7851 48. Jordan, 7734 49. Nicholas, 7653 50. Tyler, 7628

1. Sophia, 22158 2. Emma, 20791 3. Isabella, 18931 4. Olivia, 17147 5. Ava, 15418 6. Emily, 13550 7. Abigail, 12583 8. Mia, 11940 9. Madison, 11319 10. Elizabeth, 9596 11. Chloe, 9595 12. Ella, 9115 13. Avery, 8272 14. Addison, 8122 15. Aubrey, 8006 16. Lily, 7889 17. Natalie, 7852 18. Sofia, 7767 19. Charlotte, 7418 20. Zoey, 7411 21. Grace, 7304 22. Hannah, 7202 23. Amelia, 7191 24. Harper, 7154 25. Lillian, 7100 26. Samantha, 6874 27. Evelyn, 6837 28. Victoria, 6814 29. Brooklyn, 6728 30. Zoe, 6383 31. Layla, 6227 32. Hailey, 5878 33. Leah, 5724 34. Kaylee, 5571 35. Anna, 5552 36. Aaliyah, 5471 37. Gabriella, 5461 38. Allison, 5387 39. Nevaeh, 5317 40. Alexis, 5306 41. Audrey, 5266 42. Savannah, 5143 43. Sarah, 5107 44. Alyssa, 5054 45. Claire, 4915 46. Taylor, 4825 47. Riley, 4786 48. Camila, 4776 49. Arianna, 4685 50. Ashley, 4678

Liam enters the top 10! 15th last year, 6th this year.

Michael just keeps getting lower and lower.

Avery, on the other hand, keeps rising on the girls’ side — 18th last year, 13th this year.

See any other interesting rises/drops so far?

Update: More from the SSA press release:

Many pop-culture naming trends appear in a popular feature of Social Security’s baby names website–the “change in popularity” page. This year’s winners for biggest jump in popularity in the Top 500 are Major and Arya. .

The fastest riser on the girls’ list may have been influenced by the popular cable TV series “Game of Thrones.” Arya is the daughter of a leader of one of the Seven Kingdoms. She also is an expert sword fighter, so doubt her influence on the popular names list at your own risk.

For the boys, parents may associate Major with the military title. Acting Commissioner Colvin added “I have no doubt Major’s rising popularity as a boy’s name is in tribute to the brave members of the U.S. military, and maybe we’ll see more boys named General in the future.” You also might trace Major’s increase in popularity to a cable TV show. “Home by Novogratz” is a popular home design show featuring Major Novogratz, the youngest son of designers Robert and Cortney.

The second fastest riser for boys was Gael, and for girls, Perla. Both names most likely are on the rise due to the increase in the Spanish-speaking population in the United States. Perla is the Latinized version of Pearl and is popular among Hispanic-Americans. Gael’s popularity could be tied to Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal.

Here is last year’s list.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)