Parents spend a great deal of time and a lot of effort when considering a name for their child. It could be a family name. Or, the choice of name might be influenced by popular culture. Baby Center has revealed the list of the most popular baby names in 2012.
Every year, BabyCenter.com puts together an interesting list of the top 100 names for baby girls, and for baby boys, in a given year. They just released their Top 100 list for 2012. There are some differences between the list of 2012 and the previous list of the most popular baby names of 2011.
The data for the list comes from almost half a million parents who chose to share their baby’s name with Baby Center in 2012. I’ll leave you to explore the whole list of 200 names for yourself.
The top name for baby girls in 2012 was Sophia. It was also the most popular name for baby girls in 2011. There is a TV show called Teen Mom that includes a baby named Sophia. I suspect that this is what gave many parents the idea to choose this name for their daughter.
The second most popular name for girls in 2012 was Emma. Again, this is the same as last year. It is possible that parents got the idea to name their daughters Emma from Emma Watson, the actress that played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series of movies.
The third most popular name for girls in 2012 was Olivia. Perhaps the popularity of this name has something to do with actress Olivia Palermo, who is in an MTV show called The City, which is a spin-off of the show The Hills. Last year, the name Isabella was the third most popular. This year Isabella has dropped down to number four.
The most popular name for boys in 2012 was Aiden. It has been the most popular name for boys for eight years in a row. I’m not entirely certain where this name comes from. There is a band called Aiden. There also is a character in the Diablo III video game named Aiden. You don’t run into him in-game, but he has contributed to a significant part of the storyline.
The second most popular name for boys in 2012 was Jackson. It was also the second most popular name for boys in 2011. Could the name be inspired by actor Samuel L. Jackson? He narrated a comical book for parents of small children that was written by Adam Mansbach. It has been described as “the secret anthem of tired parents everywhere”.
The third most popular name for boys in 2012 was Ethan. Last year, it was Mason, (which has moved down to number five). Ethan was the seventh most popular name for boys in 2011.
Image by David Bleasdale on Flickr