Top Baby Names of 2010

[numbers123]

I have a friend whose middle name is Mason. It was her mother's maiden name, and worked out nicely since her parents ended up divorcing and her mother went back to her maiden name. So now my friend's name is First Name, Mother's Maiden Name, Father's Last Name.

Luna, I can understand your friend's anger or whatever at her ex. But I sort of take a little with this.
My son has an adorable little baby boy. He and his wife (not for soon) are divorcing and she has threatened to change the little guy's name. Of course she wants it all her way, change his name, get full custody and HUGE/Unrealistic amount of child support and any previous to marriage property.

My son loves his son and should never be subjected to a court battle to retain the little guy's legal name. There are always 2 sides to any divorce.

[PDilemma]

Luna, I can understand your friend's anger or whatever at her ex. But I sort of take a little with this.
My son has an adorable little baby boy. He and his wife (not for soon) are divorcing and she has threatened to change the little guy's name. Of course she wants it all her way, change his name, get full custody and HUGE/Unrealistic amount of child support and any previous to marriage property.

My son loves his son and should never be subjected to a court battle to retain the little guy's legal name. There are always 2 sides to any divorce.

I feel for your position, Numbers. My brother and his son's mother split when nephew was a baby. Since they were never married, nephew has only her maiden name. And later she got married and tried to get my brother to sign off to give permission to change nephew's name to her husband's last name. That husband died, she quickly married another and tried to get nephew's name changed to that guy's name. By then, nephew was 14 years old and was having none of it himself.

As for child support...I totally sympathize with the issue of deadbeat dads, but after my brother's experiences with it, I've learned that there are plenty of fathers trying to do the right thing and getting screwed by the system. Currently, nephew goes to boarding school--room and board included. My brother pays all the school fees, buys all of nephew's clothes and other necessities, provides all of his spending money, and pays for transportation to and from school and to and from here for visits. Meanwhile, the kid's mother is collecting child support. He hasn't even been home with her since August. And since husband #2 died, she is asking for the child support to be raised so that she doesn't have to get a job.

[vesperholly]

As for child support...I totally sympathize with the issue of deadbeat dads, but after my brother's experiences with it, I've learned that there are plenty of fathers trying to do the right thing and getting screwed by the system. Currently, nephew goes to boarding school--room and board included. My brother pays all the school fees, buys all of nephew's clothes and other necessities, provides all of his spending money, and pays for transportation to and from school and to and from here for visits. Meanwhile, the kid's mother is collecting child support. He hasn't even been home with her since August. And since husband #2 died, she is asking for the child support to be raised so that she doesn't have to get a job.

Sad story, but wonderful that your brother is taking care of his child so well. I have a male friend who fought like hell and had to go through federal court to get custody of his son. The birth mother is a drug addict and their son had an accident that caused brain damage under her care. She hasn't paid a dime of child support. Deadbeat mothers

[Sofia Alexandra]

Oh joy, my name is trendy.

My mum actually wanted to name me Sheila, but my (Finnish) grandmother couldn't pronounce it properly, so I was named after Sophia Loren instead. My full name is Sofia Alexandra Anneli [Surname], and I share the Anneli with my mum, grandma, and possibly some previous relatives as well.

I use Sofia Alexandra online and when signing artwork/stories, 'cause it sounds quite regal, and I don't feel particularly attached to my surname, which comes from my stepdad. But I wouldn't want to use my mum's maiden name or my dad's surname either, 'cause they're both Finnish, and I don't think of myself as a Finn. I'm a Swede with Finnish parents, jao!

[Moka-Ananas]

My 2nd name is Nicole. My mom first wanted it to be Helmi (which means "pearl") after her Finnish grandmother but then my parents went with Nicole because my dad's name is Nikolai.
I was kinda upset when I learnt that a few months ago because I really like the name Helmi and everything Finnish. But when I look at friends of mine whose parents really managed to name "Kristina Bettina" or "Tassilo Heinrich" I tend to think Nicole isn't that bad

[luna_skater]

Luna, I can understand your friend's anger or whatever at her ex. But I sort of take a little with this.
My son has an adorable little baby boy. He and his wife (not for soon) are divorcing and she has threatened to change the little guy's name. Of course she wants it all her way, change his name, get full custody and HUGE/Unrealistic amount of child support and any previous to marriage property.

My son loves his son and should never be subjected to a court battle to retain the little guy's legal name. There are always 2 sides to any divorce.

Uhhh...what? Maybe my original post was confusing--I didn't indicate any anger between the divorcing parents. My friend's name never changed. She was born as First Name, Mother's Maiden Name (Mason), Father's Last Name--so when her parents divorced, it was simply convenient that my friend already had both parents' last names anyway.

[Beefcake]

No "Snookie"???



The integrity of this data is hereby under suspicion.

[numbers123]

Uhhh...what? Maybe my original post was confusing--I didn't indicate any anger between the divorcing parents. My friend's name never changed. She was born as First Name, Mother's Maiden Name (Mason), Father's Last Name--so when her parents divorced, it was simply convenient that my friend already had both parents' last names anyway.

OK - I was reacting to things in my life, where my soon to be ex daughter in law has been threatening to change my grandson's last name to her last name or any future significant other in HER life. (neither of which she can do without legal interventions/son's relinquishing his rights).

[Autumn_girl]

My friend named his daughter Yarina, it's a Ukrainian name from "Yarilo", slavic god of the sun. My Ukrainian grandmother wanted to name me Darina (also Ukranian name) and mom thought about Alina, but my dad choose Natalia and I like it, though sometimes it's a bit annoying 'cause I know many girls with that name.
My other friend wanted to name her daughter Milana or Milena, but choose Polina instead.

Oh, and I know a little girl with the name Gioconda. Seriosly, what were her parents thinking? Poor girl hates her name and everyone calls her Zhenya

[cholla]

This website shows trends in the popularity of baby names in the United States from the 1880's to the present: http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

Very interesting. The results are very different for me whether I use the spelling Catherine or Kathryn. As Catherine (the spelling my French father always used), I have had a peak in 1900 (that doesn't exactly make feel young and fresh ), then a smaller one in the 50s. As Kathryn (the spelling chosen by my American mother), I have had 3 popularity peaks : again in the 1900s, then a huge one in approx. 1945, and a third one in the mid 80s, which is way past my birth date. Then, as Kate, which has been my short name all my life, it's a totally different story. The top of the peak is in the 2000s. Some people also call me Cathy or Kathy and that again gives a different result.

[bobalina77]

That is interesting.. my name peaked in the 70's which is when I was born.. but it was still only 341. If my parents had put an E at the end it would have peaked at 126 in the 30's.

It looks as though Dexter is on an upswing.. it went from 715 in 2008 to 545 in 2009. It peaked in the 60's at 354.

[genevieve]

I have a friend in England who has named her children Indigo (girl), Cypress (girl), and Zephyr (boy).

There is a novel by Ntozake Shange called "Sassafras, Cyress and Indigo" where those are the names of three sisters. I wonder if your friend was going for that but ended up with a boy?

Luna, I can understand your friend's anger or whatever at her ex. But I sort of take a little with this.
My son has an adorable little baby boy. He and his wife (not for soon) are divorcing and she has threatened to change the little guy's name. Of course she wants it all her way, change his name, get full custody and HUGE/Unrealistic amount of child support and any previous to marriage property.

I understand your frustration, but from Luna's post, I don't think her friend's mother had the friend's name legally changed - just that friend's name ended up containing both her parents' last names when the mom went back to her maiden name.

One of my friends from college grew up with a stepdad who did not legally adopt her, but to keep things simple in school, she went by his name. When I met her she was using her full legal name. She also went by a nickname in HS, and the initials were the same. I found this out when I picked up a paperback off her shelf and it said "Katy Jacobs" inside. I commented that it was ironic she got a book from someone with the same initials and she said that was her - I knew her as Kathleen Johanssson.

ETA: Ania, my condolences

[MacMadame]

No "Snookie"???



The integrity of this data is hereby under suspicion.

Maybe that's because her name is Snooki. No e.

I have a name that is pretty common in the sense that everyone knows how to spell it and pronounce it (or did before English standards became so low) but is uncommon in that not many people actually have that name. I like this. My last name is common as mud though. So that means there are hundreds of people with my name on FaceBook and once I went to school with someone who went by my exact name. (But she was going by her middle name so her legal name was different than mine.)

It's kind of weird to be the only Mac in the whole school for years and then in Jr. High, not only are there other Macs but there is a Mac Madame.

My son has one of the most common boy's name ever. There are always a few MacBoys in his class at school. He loves this. I would hate it though (I didn't realize how popular it was when we gave it to him).

[millyskate]

My name has never been in the top 1000 in the US :
I'm really surprised, since it's not *that* uncommon.

[oleada]

I am bumping this thread because I found an article in El Tiempo, Colombia's main newspaper about baby names. Apparently the most popular names overall are María and Jose, we're so creative. But in the decade of 2000-2009, the most popular baby names are:

Boys: 1. Santiago 2. Sebastian 3. Nicolás 4. Samuel
Girls: 1. Valentina 2. Daniela 3. Mariana 4. Natalia

But there's also an entire subset of really kreatyve names with the following people being the only people in the country with these names:

Yicelub, Saub, Irlandesa, Saude, Jhewer, Jheyaa, Cometa Haley, Alka Seltzer, Mickey Mouse Jusayú, Gallina Ipuana, Cine, Helicóptero, María Perra, Ministro y Chorizo Epinayú.

Gallina (chicken?), Alka Seltzer, Mickey Mouse?!
Apparently a lot of these names come from the Wayuu tribe in La Guajira region, where the tradition is that people aren't named at birth but rather as they grow up. Said young Cine (literally "movie theater") was named because he was the first person in his village to go the movie theater. Or the first person in his village who graduated high school was named Bachiller (high school graduate) and so on...

Edit: Oh, and the more rising names are obskure Biblical/religiously names like Jeronimo and Mateo. My cousin had a baby this year and he was name Elias - which is not unheard of but not common.

[Lanie]

My name is very old fashioned and I really don't like it. I was named after my step-grandmother.

Oh, God, oleada, those "creative" names... Share it on the other board if you didn't!!