GH cuties top SSA's list of popular baby names

Emma overtakes Emily as top baby name for girls

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 10 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Move over, baby Emily. Emma is the new top name among baby girls, ending Emily's 12-year reign.
Jacob remained king among the boys in 2008, his 10th straight year at the top, the Social Security Administration said Friday.
Barack may have been the man of the year in 2008, as Obama won the presidency, but he's still behind Elvis. Barack didn't crack the top 1,000, though he did move up a record 10,126 spots, to No. 2,409. Elvis is still in the building, but he fell from 673 to 713.
Biblical names dominate the top choices for boys while popular culture appears to have influenced some of the girls' names.
Emma debuted in the top 10 in 2002, the same year that Jennifer Aniston's character on "Friends" gave the name to her TV show baby. In the latest lineup, Emma was followed by Isabella, Emily, Madison and Ava.
The top five boys names remained unchanged from 2007. Jacob was followed by Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel.
Little else changed among the top 10 for either sex. Alexander joined the top 10 at No. 6, while Andrew dropped out. Among the girls, Chloe inched her way up to No. 10 while Hannah dropped out.
"There's something about naming a child that's a very existential statement," said Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. "As you read through this you see the influence of recent immigration, religion, popular culture. Sometimes, it's just people who are admired."
The Social Security Administration started compiling name lists in 1997. The agency offers lists of baby names dating to 1880.
New girl names in the top 1,000 included Isla (623), Mareli (718), Milagros (731), Dayami (750) and Nylah (821).
Debuting among the boys were Aaden (343), Chace (655), Marley (764) Kash (779) and Kymani (836). Beckham debuted at 893, perhaps a nod to the British soccer star, David Beckham, who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
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I just found it interesting that the last 2 babies born on GH now hold 1st place in girl & boy baby names. Are the trends following the soaps or are the soaps following the trends? Chicken? Egg?

Well...for boys anyway, GH followed the trend as it's held the top spot for 10 years. Funny that Michael and Ethan are also in the top 5...just another example that GH can't think on it's own...

I think that Ethan became popular with the show Passions. Everybody names their kids after soap characters.

When I was in high school where I went through a phase of saying if I ever had a son I would name him Evan after a character on Another World.

While I was actually pregnant with my son, one of the names that was kicked around was Jacob Dylan & another was Fox after Fox Mulder. Just FYI, I guess.

My firstborn is named Jason after, yes, Jason Quartermaine. My second born is named Jared, and at the time everyone thought we had named him after one of the most popular nightime drama chars at the time, Jarrod, of The Pretender. I did not, but it was an incredibly popular name at the time cause of him.