How popular is the baby name Joshua in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Joshua.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Joshua


Posts that mention the name Joshua

Popular baby names in the United States, 2008

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

And…here they are the new top-10 lists!

Girl names

  1. Emma (was #2 in 2007)
  2. Isabella (no change)
  3. Emily (was #1)
  4. Madison (was #5)
  5. Ava (was #4)
  6. Olivia (was #7)
  7. Sophia (was #6)
  8. Abigail (no change)
  9. Elizabeth (was #10)
  10. Chloe (was #16)

Boy names

  1. Jacob (no change)
  2. Michael (always #2!)
  3. Ethan (no change)
  4. Joshua (no change)
  5. Daniel (no change)
  6. Alexander (was #11)
  7. Anthony (no change)
  8. William (no change)
  9. Christopher (was #6)
  10. Matthew (was #9)

The first thing I had to check was Michael. I’d be so upset if it slipped any lower than #2. Just seems like tradition at this point. :)

There is one newbie on each top ten list: Alexander for boys, Chloe for girls. On the flip side of that are the “biggest losers,” Andrew (which has dropped to 12th) and Hannah (which has dropped to 17th).

And which two names just missed the cut? 11th-place Jayden and 12th-place Addison, two rather trendy names riding their newfound fame to the top. (Will they ever make it? Tune in next year — same baby name-time, same baby name-channel!)

I haven’t really delved into anything more than the top names at this point. I’m seeing news articles about Barack and Miley being more popular this year — have yet to check that out.

Have you combed through the new list yet? If so, did you see anything interesting?

Update: Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

A brand new feature to the website this year is the “Change in Name Popularity” page.  This year’s winner for the biggest jump is Khloe, which is undoubtedly related to the popularity of Khloe Kardashian from the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Khloe with a K increased 469 spots to number 196 in 2008, up from 665 in 2007 and 960 in 2006 (her first year on the list).  Also, Chloe with a C is in the Top 10 for the first time ever.  Another fast riser is Miley, moving up 152 spots to number 127 for 2008, a rather impressive increase given this is only her second year on the list.  On the downside for fans of Miley Cyrus’ fictional character, the name Hannah fell out of the Top 10 and landed down at number 17.  Jacoby had the biggest increase for the boys, moving up 200 spots to number 423.  Commissioner Michael Astrue, a die-hard Red Sox fan, attributed the rise of Jacoby to the appeal of last year’s star rookie centerfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury.

The name everybody is wondering about, Barack, did not make this year’s top 1,000 boy’s list, but it did set what is believed to be a record by skyrocketing more than 10,000 spots in rising from number 12,535 in 2007 to 2,409 in 2008.  Social Security’s sophisticated predictive models are forecasting an increase well into the top 1,000 for Barack for 2009.

In this year of change, many unfamiliar names debuted on the top 1,000 list.  These names include Isla (623), Mareli (718), Dayami (750), Nylah (821) and Jazlene (831) to name a few for the girls.  For the boys: Aaden (No. 343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779), Kymani (836), Ishaan (851), Jadiel (874) and Urijah (889).  Social Security officials expressed hope that parents were not naming their sons Marley after the badly behaved dog who starred in the movie “Marley and Me.”  Beckham also made the list for the first time, coming in at number 893—undoubtedly influenced by the arrival in the United States of British soccer star David Beckham.

Sources: SSA, America’s Parents Vote for Change on Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

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

California octuplets: Noah, Maliyah, Isaiah, Nariyah…

kinderfest

“Octomom” Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets (6 boys, 2 girls) born in California in January of 2009, has finally revealed the names the babies. Here they are, by order of birth:

  1. Noah
  2. Maliyah (girl)
  3. Isaiah
  4. Nariyah (girl)
  5. Jonah
  6. Makai
  7. Josiah
  8. Jeremiah

(In early reports, the girls’ names were misspelled Maliah and Nariah, and Makai’s name was misspelled McCai.)

Five of the above are biblical, while the other three have a sort of biblical styling to them.

The names of Nadya’s older six children (4 boys, 2 girls) are…

  • Elijah (born in 2001)
  • Amerah (2002)
  • Joshua (2003)
  • Aidan (2005)
  • Calyssa (2006, twin)
  • Caleb (2006, twin)

Sources: Octuplets make American TV debut (Guardian, 2009), Her side of the story (NBC, 2009), Suleman octuplets – Wikipedia

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Popular baby names in New York City, 2007

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

New York City recently released its 2007 baby name rankings. Here are the most popular names for each gender, ladies first…

Girl Names

  1. Isabella, 539 baby girls (tie)
  2. Sophia, 539 (tie)
  3. Emily, 525
  4. Ashley, 480
  5. Sarah, 425
  6. Kayla, 414
  7. Mia, 381
  8. Olivia, 375
  9. Samantha, 368
  10. Rachel, 359
  11. Madison, 345

Yup — a tie for first place. In 2006, Isabella ranked 3rd and Sophia ranked 6th. In 2007, they both reached the top spot together (replacing the former #1 name, Ashley).

Boy Names

  1. Daniel, 865 baby boys
  2. Jayden, 846
  3. Michael, 801
  4. Matthew, 778
  5. Justin, 738
  6. Joshua, 719
  7. David, 705
  8. Anthony, 664
  9. Christopher, 652
  10. Joseph, 617

Jayden may have ranked #2, but the entire Jayden name-group is realistically in the #1 spot. Why do I say that? Because the grand total comes to 1,342 if you include the 301 Jadens, 103 Jaidens, 22 Jadons, 18 Jaedens, 17 Jaydons, 12 Jaidyns, 12 Jaydans, and 11 Jaydins born in NYC in 2007. That beats the 865 Daniels by a large margin.

Regardless, Jayden — that particular spelling — does have enough momentum to top the list on its own in 2008. (Do you think it will?)

Here are the top NYC baby names for 2006.

Source: Most Popular Baby Names in New York City [pdf]

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

Popular baby names in the United States, 2007

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

The most popular baby names in the U.S. were updated yesterday!

Here are the new top 25 girl names and boys names. The positive and negative numbers indicate how a name has risen or fallen in rank since 2006.

Girl Names

  1. Emily (0)
  2. Isabella (+2)
  3. Emma (-1)
  4. Ava (+1)
  5. Madison (-2)
  6. Sophia (+3)
  7. Olivia (0)
  8. Abigail (-2)
  9. Hannah (-1)
  10. Elizabeth (+1)
  11. Addison (+17)
  12. Samantha (-2)
  13. Ashley (-1)
  14. Alyssa (+5)
  15. Mia (-2)
  16. Chloe (+2)
  17. Natalie (0)
  18. Sarah (-3)
  19. Alexis (-5)
  20. Grace (-4)
  21. Ella (0)
  22. Brianna (-2)
  23. Hailey (+2)
  24. Taylor (-1)
  25. Anna (-3)

Boy Names

  1. Jacob (0)
  2. Michael (0)
  3. Ethan (+1)
  4. Joshua (-1)
  5. Daniel (+1)
  6. Christopher (+1)
  7. Anthony (+2)
  8. William (+2)
  9. Matthew (-4)
  10. Andrew (-2)
  11. Alexander (+1)
  12. David (+1)
  13. Joseph (-2)
  14. Noah (+1)
  15. James (+1)
  16. Ryan (-2)
  17. Logan (+2)
  18. Jayden (+31)
  19. John (+1)
  20. Nicholas (-3)
  21. Tyler (-3)
  22. Christian (-1)
  23. Jonathan (-1)
  24. Nathan (-1)
  25. Samuel (0)

The biggest jump on the boys’ list was Jayden — 31 spots (!), from 49th to 18th. The number of baby boys named Jayden rose from 9,550 (0.44%) in 2006 to 15,025 (0.69%) in 2007.

The biggest jump on the girls’ list was Addison — 17 spots, from 28th to 11th. The number of baby girls named Addison increased from 7,599 (0.37%) in 2006 to 11,823 (0.57%) in 2007.

Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Although “American Idol’s” Sanjaya did not influence this year’s list, other young celebrities influenced the naming of American children. The 2007 success of popular race car driver Danica Patrick undoubtedly inspired her first name moving from number 352 to number 307. Similarly, the name of the first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, Oakland Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russell, rose from number 914 to number 743 on the boys’ list.

Shiloh, the youngest daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, debuted on the list at number 804. Maddox, the name of their oldest child, has seen steady gains since first appearing on the list in 2003 at number 583 and now ranking at number 226. Suri, the name of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter, did not make the list. But Britney Spears’ second son is named Jayden, which ranked at number 18. Miley is new to the girls’ list this year, entering fairly high at number 278, attributable to the popularity of teen sensation Miley Cyrus.

For reasons likely to puzzle baby name experts around the world, American parents have become infatuated by names, particularly for their sons, that rhyme with the word “maiden.” These names for boys include: Jayden (No. 18); Aiden (No. 27); Aidan (No. 54); Jaden (No. 76); Caden (No. 92); Kaden (No. 98); Ayden (No.102); Braden (No.156); Cayden (No.175); Jaiden (No.191); Kaiden (No. 220); Aden (No. 264); Caiden (No. 286); Braeden (No. 325); Braydon (No. 361); Jaydon (No. 415); Jadon (No. 423); Braiden (No. 529); Zayden (No. 588); Jaeden (No. 593); Aydan (No. 598); Bradyn (No. 629); Kadin (No. 657); Jadyn (No. 696); Kaeden (No. 701); Jaydin (No. 757); Braedon (No. 805); Aidyn (No. 818); Haiden (No. 820); Jaidyn (No. 841); Kadyn (No. 878); Jaydan (No. 887); Raiden (No. 931); and Adin (No. 983).  This startling trend was present, but less pronounced, with girls names:  Jayden (No. 172); Jadyn (No. 319); Jaden (No. 335); Jaiden (No. 429); Kayden (No. 507); and Jaidyn (No. 561). Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter indicated that the agency would resist any legislative efforts to standardize the spelling of these names.

Experts also may be surprised by the extent to which American parents are naming their daughters after spiritual and philosophical concepts. One of the most popular names for girls (rising this year to number 31) is Nevaeh, which is “Heaven” spelled backwards. The variant Neveah came in this year at number 891 and Heaven is number 263. Also represented were:  Destiny (No. 41); Trinity (No. 72); Serenity (No. 126); Harmony (No. 315); Miracle (No. 461); Charity (No. 673); Journey (No. 692); Destini (No. 914); and Essence (No. 930). Cutting against this trend was Armani (No. 971). 

American parents were far less likely to name their sons in this way, although the 2007 boys’ list does include Sincere (No. 622) and Messiah (No. 723).

Sources: SSA, Pop Culture Makes Mark on Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

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