Top 2008 Baby Names
Categories: Newborns, Babies, Celeb Parenting, In The News
Top Baby Names 2008
The results are in and the top baby names for 2008 have been determined according to Babycenter.com. And despite the celebrity weirdness of late (Zuma Nesta Rock? Bronx Mowgli?) average parents are sticking with average names for their offspring.
For boys, Aiden retained his spot as the number one name (a position held since 2005), followed by Jayden, Ethan and Jacob. For the girls, Emma made a return to the number one position, knocking off last year's Sophia and beating out Isabella and Olivia. Seeing as how this was an election year, it isn't surprising to find that presidential names were popular with lots of boys being named Jackson and Tyler and girls getting Madison, Taylor and Kennedy.
Babycenter's editor-in-chief, Linda Murray says the results show a trend toward classic and old-fashioned names. "Times have changed and people are taking the world more seriously, affected by what is going on the world," she said.
Yes, it seems that most parents don't want their children being teased and chose names that would reflect something positive about them. For boys, parents said they wanted names that represented strength, kindness and compassion, compared to the strength and individuality they were going for in 2007. For girls, parents were looking for something that expressed kindness, compassion, intelligence and strength. Last year, they were looking for femininity and individuality.
I can't help but notice that for both boys' and girls' names, parents seem to have lost the desire for names that express individuality. Why do you suppose that is?
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Top 10 Boys Names
10. Matthew
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Top 10 Boys Names
9. Logan
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Top 10 Boys Names
8. Jack
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Top 10 Boys Names
7. Noah
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Top 10 Boys Names
6. Jackson
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Top 10 Boys Names
5. Caden
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Top 10 Boys Names
4. Jacob
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Top 10 Boys Names
3. Ethan
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Top 10 Boys Names
2. Jayden
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cmon Mom 12-11-2008 @ 2:01PM
I don't understand how this list translates a new trend to more traditional names. The list is pretty much identical to Babycenter's top names of 2007: http://www.babycenter.com/0_100-most-popular-baby-names-of-2007_3637303.bc. In fact, this list is pretty much identical to top names from the last decade.
"Emily" is out of the top 10 and "Lily" is in. Clearly this is a reflection on our economy! Oh, and "Jackson" was in Babycenter's top 10 last year - I guess because the presidential campaign dragged on so long.
This is all just PR.
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amberly 12-11-2008 @ 5:37PM
it figures lilly would make it into the top ten. i named my daughter lilliana 2 yrs ago, and nicknamed her lilly, and everywhere else there was a lilly!
Karis 12-11-2008 @ 5:52PM
... Those names aren't as popular, that's all.
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Belle 12-11-2008 @ 4:44PM
People are shying away from "original" names because names such as "Kerrigan" for girls and "Bryson" for boys are made up and RIDICULOUS!
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Jim 12-11-2008 @ 5:39PM
AWWWWW come on...these are African American names and if you haven't noticed there are alot more white people than black in the U.S. Could that be the reason ????
Find something REAL to complain about PLEASE!
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Michele 12-11-2008 @ 5:26PM
No parents should name their kids a name that can be mis- spelled or made fun of. My name is Michele, and in school it was always mis-spelled or they called me Michael, or Mike.And I'm female. I never liked my name till the Beatles came out with that song "Michele". I named my kids Sonya and Jason. No one made fun of them. From Michele in Texas
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Princess 12-11-2008 @ 6:00PM
Any name can be misspelled or made fun of. If your kids didn't get made fun of because of their names, great. That doesn't mean that in a different place, or a different school, with different people it couldn't have happened.
Would you have regretted your name choices had someone decided to make fun of them?
Sonya and Jason can be misspelled also. I've come across a few Jayson's recently and even saw one JaySun. I've also seen Sonya spelled Sonja.
And than some names even have multiple correct spellings. Rebecca/Rebekah, Brian/Bryan, Dylan/Dillion, etc.
Joyce 12-11-2008 @ 6:03PM
I named my daughter Steffany, and people mispell it all the time, from Stephany to Stephffanie and everything in between. What that shows me is people are idiots who can't spell, because it's not rocket science! I think my spelling is very feminine and pretty and I wouldn't change it for anything. I used to wish I was named Julie instead of Joyce when I was younger, until I saw that there were an average of three Julies in every class in school but only one Joyce. I love my name and hope it makes a comeback in the future!
dean 12-11-2008 @ 6:17PM
I always thought that Aidan was a great name. I can remember first hearing of the actor, Aidan Quinn. (Shows how old I am). But, I think it is odd that you would name you child the most popular name or in the top ten. Who wants their kid to be another "Jennifer" of the 70's or a "Jessica" of the 80's. I definitely can agree with wanting a more classic name and not something crazy. I can see naming your child a great name and by the age of 5, it is very popular. You can't really forsee that, but try to be a little bit original.
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Juanita 12-11-2008 @ 6:42PM
Hey if you dont want your kids name spelled wrong do like I did. My sons name is AJ and if you spell that worng you are an idoit.
pbhj 12-12-2008 @ 10:01PM
Ajay?
samwysesr 12-11-2008 @ 8:43PM
Leticia is actually an Italian and anglo-saxon name dating from the 15th century. So how is it "racist" against african-americans that it is not in this list?
From Etymology of names:
Leticia:
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
From the Late Latin name Laetitia which meant "joy, happiness". This was the name of an obscure saint. It was in use in England during the Middle Ages, usually in the spelling Lettice, and it was revived in the 18th century
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MinneYatta 12-11-2008 @ 6:43PM
I have a son named Ethan-he is 35 years old-who knew that I was a trend setter back in 1973? My other sons are Brett and Kyle, 40 and 37 respectively. My husband and I liked the names as they were not names that were easily converted to nicknames. They all grew into tall, handsome men and we are very proud of them.
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tojo 12-11-2008 @ 6:58PM
Letcia, Le kooka, Le Bumba, Etc. Are not Afro - American names. They are made up "Ghetto" names so they won't be associated with "Whitey". On the whole, blacks are far more racist per captia than whites. I suppose it has to do with the fact that they are less educated, and far more ignorant.
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Erin M. 12-11-2008 @ 7:06PM
None of these sound original to me. I know you can't predict what will or will not become popular, but I'd be super disappointed if the name I picked for my child became another Jessie or something.
No one get me wrong... All of those names are great (I myself have a pretty unimaginative name), it's just my personal wish that my child's name be almost impossibly difficult to popularize (without being ridiculous, of course) ;]
Erin
http://www.thenakedhippie.com
Organic T-shirts
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Kim 12-11-2008 @ 7:08PM
When I named my kids, I picked what I believed were old fashioned, not so popular names of today, but good strong names and names that couldn't be shortened. I named my sons Reid & Cole and my daugther, Chloe.' I thought I was being so unique when I named Chloe', but apparently every other Mother who had a baby that year named their daughters Chloe', too. There are three including my daughter in her class alone. Oh well, still love the name and haven't come across any other Reid's or Cole's.
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Sue 12-13-2008 @ 9:19PM
Kim - I'm curious as to what year your daughter Chloe was born. My Chloe was born in 1985 and she has only once encountered another Chloe in our school system, although I do realize it has become a much more popular name in the past few years. BTW, Olivia Newton-John had a daughter named her Chloe a few months AFTER my daughter was born, and to this day some people ask me if I chose the name because I was "copying" Olivia Newton-John.
beba 12-11-2008 @ 7:35PM
my sons names mispronounced all time they call him giovanni rather than his name and its not that bad i love my sons name and glad i chose it if ppl are rude and cant deal with face people can name there child whatever they want than just get over it they are not your children! btw my son is names Givonni Unique
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Christy 12-11-2008 @ 7:39PM
I named my oldest daughter Tessa and I've only heard it a few times. I named my second daughter Mya and it is around quite a bit but I didn't know that at the time. My son's name is Jacob. I knew it was a very popular name but I liked it. My youngest we named Nellie Marie in honor of my great aunt who passed away with cancer and to whom I was very close to.
All of my kids names have a special meaning and story with them and thats the reason why they were picked.
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Bettyanne 12-11-2008 @ 8:21PM
I think most people still pick their children's names based on their nationality. Irish, Jewish, Spanish, etc. Blacks, I think just put letters in a bag, throw them on the table an there's your name. Proud to be African, that's great, then pick some authentic names and not mumbo-jumbo crap.
If someone spells Stephanie as Stephany that's fine as well, but don't call them stupid when you decided to change the name that is commonly known.
It's all these people that are full of themselves with these names, whatever happened to Joseph or Elizabeth?
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