Friday, April 17, 2009

names by the numbers

Here are the average rankings of our top name choices for the past five years. This info comes from the Social Security Administration website that tracks the popularity of names going all the way back to 1880 (http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ ). Number one girl name in 1880: Mary.

In order of popularity, with the most popular first:

Natalie 18th most popular name on average from 2003 to 2007
Katherine 36
Audrey 70
Amy 116
Josephine 234
Eleanor 284
Jane 451 (I was surprised to see this one so far down the list)

2 comments:

Lynn Ann said...

My best friend growing up was Jane--and she always hated her name because it was so plain. As a plain Lynn myself, I didn't find this a problem. Old-fashioned names can go either way--you love it or hate it. Seems classic names, like Katherine, are so versatile with the nicknames. I'm still liking Amy Jo!

albrightburley said...

Yeah, I know that the phrase "plain Jane" comes to mind alot with this name. I like it because it sounds strong and decisive--like the person with this name will be confident and have a firm handshake, etc.. Amy Jo is still in the top favorites, though. Strange, I can feel her moving around in there all the time now, but I don't know what to call her yet. I hope we decide soon. Also, that is a very cute profile picture.