Jacob and Sophia Repeat atop Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List

Jacob and Sophia are repeat champions as America’s most popular baby names for 2012. This is the fourteenth year in a row Jacob tops the list for boys and the second year for Sophia. There is a new couple in the top 10 this year--Elizabeth and Liam replace Chloe and Daniel. Elizabeth has been here before, but this is the first time Liam breaks into the top 10. Perhaps Liam’s new found success can be attributed to Liam Neeson’s recent major roles in “Battleship” and the popular “Taken,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and “Clash of the Titans” franchises.

Fastest-rising baby names for girls in 2012

1. Arya
2. Perla
3. Catalina
4. Elisa
5. Raelynn
6. Rosalie
7. Haven
8. Raelyn
9. Briella
10. Marilyn

Fastest-rising names for boys

1. Major
2. Gael
3. Jase
4. Messiah
5. Brantley
6. Iker
7. King
8. Rory
9. Ari
10. Maverick

For all the top baby names of 2012, go to Social Security’s website www.socialsecurity.gov.

USA Counties - a quick reference for many commonly requested data items

USA Counties features over 6,800 data items for the United States, States and counties from a variety of sources. Files include data published for 2009 estimates and many items from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, the 1990 census, the 1980 census and the 2002, 1997, 1992, 1987, 1982 and 1977 economic censuses.

Information in USA Counties is derived from the following general topics: age, agriculture, ancestry, banking, building permits, business patterns, crime, earnings, education, elections, employment, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, retail trade, social programs, veterans, vital statistics, water use, and wholesale trade.

Files contain a collection of data from the U. S. Census Bureau and other Federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Social Security Administration.

Social Security Insurance Recipients by State and County, 2008

Local area data for SSI program for aged, blind, and disabled people are the focus of this annual statistical report, which, not incidentally, can only be accessed on the Web; no print version is available

America’s Parents Vote for Change on Social Security's Most Popular Baby Names List

n 2008, American parents voted for change in naming their children. After a 12-year reign as the most popular baby name, Emily has slipped to third on the list. Emma is now the nation’s most popular name for girls.

The most popular boy’s name, Jacob, remained the same for the 10th year in a row.

Please click on the Most Popular Baby Names link at Social Security’s website -- http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/www.socialsecurity.gov -- to see all the top baby names for 2008. Drum roll please…the Top 10 boys and girls names for 2008 are:
Top 10 Names for 2008 Rank Male name/Female name
1 Jacob/Emma
2 Michael/Isabella
3 Ethan/Emily
4 Joshua/Madison
5 Daniel/Ava
6 Alexander/Olivia
7 Anthony/Sophia
8 William/Abigail
9 Christopher/Elizabeth
10 Matthew/Chloe

On the boys' list: Roger is at 463, up from 468 in 2007.
On the girls' list, Lydia is at 120, up from 124 in 2007, while Carol has been out of the top 1000 for the last two years.

The Baby Name Wizard

David Brooks had a column, syndicated by the New York Times in August, titled "Dropping old names for new". In it he commended Laura Wattenberg's "obsession with names...and has transformed it into a window on American society, the Baby Name Wizard. He specifically extolled the blog for trends in baby names. If you have Java script, definitely check out the NameVoyager, which is not only interesting but visually cool.

Of course, the Social Security Popular Baby Names section is useful as well. In fact, I had so much fun with it that I had to blog about it earlier this year.