Naming a baby anytime soon?

Posted Dec. 5, 2011

Expecting an end of year or New Year’s baby? Looking for a name? Visit the Social Security “popular baby name” section (http://1.usa.gov/ttfTVG) for names used in 2010 and for any year after 1879. You can rank the popularity of a name from the top 20 to the top 1,000. You can also sort popular names by decade, state and even see popular names for twins in 2010.

Popular culture has a large impact on baby names. Religious names are also popular. What names from 2010 do you recognize? What names were popular the year you were born?

Name information comes from applications for Social Security number cards making this data easily available. Largely due to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which required the SSN of dependent children on Federal income tax returns, today nearly everyone in the United States has a Social Security number. This was not always so. Some people born before 1937 never obtained a Social Security number or people might have died before needing a Social Security number.

Social Security updates the popular baby name lists each Mother’s Day. What were the most popular names for 2010 in your state?

Nationally, the top 10 male and female names for 2010 follow, in order.

Female names: Isabella, Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Madison, Chloe and Mia.

Male names: Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Jayden, William, Alexander, Noah, Daniel, Aiden and Anthony.

An easy way to obtain a Social Security number for your newborn is at the hospital when you provide information for his or her birth certificate. This voluntary, free, and very popular option allows a data exchange between your state and Social Security when the birth is registered. Without extra paperwork from you, state information is used to provide a SSN for your child and the card is automatically mailed to you.

Kossover, of Grand Forks, is a Social Security public affairs specialist for North Dakota and western Minnesota. He blogs at socialsecurity info.areavoices.com

Tags: life, family, blog