BabyNames.com Announces Top Names of 2006

PR Newswire ^

[Republican Red]

BabyNames.com Announces Top Names of 2006

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the popular website BabyNames.com, Ava and Aidan were the top names for 2006. For the first time in five years, Madison slipped from the number one girl's name to number four. On the boys' side, rhyming names Aiden, Caden, Braden and Jaden continue to dominate the charts.

The BabyNames.com Top Names List is calculated from the favorite name lists of over a million site members for the year 2006.

"Celebrity culture always has an influence on naming trends," says Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of BabyNames.com, "but it seems like it has increased in recent years."

Moss says the name Ava started becoming popular after celebrity couple Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe chose the name for their daughter in 1999. Other celeb parents who chose the name Ava include X-Man Hugh Jackman and TV star Heather Locklear.

But if you think the Federlines were the first celeb couple to go with the name Jayden, you are mistaken. Jaden (and its various spellings) first started appearing on BabyNames.com lists after Will Smith and Jada Pinkett chose the name for their son back in 1998.

"It usually takes 3-4 years for a new name to make it from the celebrities to the masses," says Moss, "and that's only if the names are not too wild!"

So although Pilot Inspektor and Fifi Trixibelle will probably not be topping the charts anytime soon, keep an eye out for Suri [Cruise] and Shiloh [Jolie-Pitt] to appear in the forthcoming years.

THE BABYNAMES.COM MOST POPULAR NAMES for 2006

BOYS
• 1. AIDAN/AIDEN/ADEN =
  
• 2. CADEN/KADEN =
  
• 3. BRADEN/BRAYDEN/BRAEDEN +
  
• 4. JADEN/JAYDEN +
  
• 5. ETHAN -
  
• 6. CONNOR/CONNER +
  
• 7. ADDISON +
  
• 8. RILEY +
  
• 9. CALEB -
  
• 10. LOGAN -
  
• 11. HAYDEN -
  
• 13. NOAH -
  
• 14. AVERY +
  
• 15. JACOB -
  
• 16.RYAN -
  
• 17.CAMERON -
  
• 18. ALEXANDER +
  
• 19. AARON +
  
• 20. TRISTAN +
  
  

  GIRLS
  
  

• 1. AVA +
  
• 2. ABIGAIL +
  
• 3. KAELYN/CAILYN +
  
• 4. MADISON -
  
• 5. EMMA -
  
• 6. ISABELLA +
  
• 7. BAILEY +
  
• 8. CHLOE -
  
• 9. OLIVIA +
  
• 10. HANNAH +
  
• 11. ISABELLE/ISABEL +
  
• 12. GRACE +
  
• 13. ELLA +
  
• 14. ABBY/ABBIE +
  
• 15. CADENCE -
  
• 16. ALEXIS -
  
• 17. TAYLOR -
  
• 18. PAIGE +
  
• 19. HAILEY -
  
• 20. EMILY -
  
  
  + Increased position from 2005
  - Decreased position from 2005
  = Same rank as 2005
  

[SoothingDave]

Tristan? Really?

Sounds too much like a cold remedy for my taste.

SD

[rahbert]

Theres Rufus, Wilson, Desmond, or Snafu for those who want different...

[angcat]

I should talk, my mom named me after a sunken Italian ship.

[Hatteras]

I'm in my mid forties and I grew up with two guys named Shannon. They were born in '59 and '61.

[blau993]

You may want to add "pharmaceuticals" to your list.

[sully777]

CADENCE/AIDAN/AIDEN/ADEN/CADEN/KADEN/BRADEN/BRAYDEN/BRAEDEN/JADEN/JAYDEN

---

Definite sign of the end times.

[linda_22003]

"Also, I had not expected Tristan."

Especially without a corresponding "Isolde" on the girls' list.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Andrea?

[LongElegantLegs]

I don't care if they become popular a few years after I use them; That makes me a visionary trendsetter. :-)
I just don't want them to be one of twenty 'Gavins' of the same age.

[the OlLine Rebel]

-Also, "body parts"...

[angcat]

The whole nine yards!

Andrea Doria!

[elc]

Ha ha, that's a fun game. Sit down with your spouse and figure out what your kid's names would have been if you named them after the place of conception!

Oh no, I'd be Alligator Point.
No idea what dear daugther would be - depends on which day she was actually conceived.

[RepoGirl]

Just trailed by Lee, of course.

[the OlLine Rebel]

My mother LOVED that ship.

She loves telling about the gold designs inside the toilet bowls.

[Mr. Blonde]

I'm reminded of Ali G. talking to Victoria and David Beckham who said they named their kid Brooklyn because that is where she was conceived. Ali G said that if his girlfriend and him had done that his kid would be called Langley Villiage for short. The full name would be the bathroom in the KFC in Langley Villiage.

[linda_22003]

Unless the first name is the classic, "Heywood". :)

[elc]

D'oh. Br, not b between the <>. Always, always preview...

[xsmommy]

i love the old fashioned ones!

[angcat]

LOL

[Doohickey]

No, I have to plead stupidity. Both my wife and I have perfectly normal, run-of-the-mill names (though you'd be surprised how many people can't spell "Michael").

It actually didn't hit me until she started Kindergarten, and by then it was too late. She came home from school one afternoon and asked me about it. I explained it to her, apologized, and offered to change it to the correct spelling which she declined.