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What does the 2012 crop of New Year's babies foretell? A quick glance will confirm that when it comes to the new generation of American baby names, creativity rules there's no longer such a thing as "normal." The first babies of the year include an Daytona, an Akier and an Envy (yes, Envy), but nary a John or Mary to be seen.

One of my longstanding pleasures when visiting Hawai'i is to read the birth announcements in the local papers, to savor the ethnic melange that results in truly distinctive baby names (unlike my own fairly plain-Jane handle.) Often these newborns' monikers can be summed up as "first name also popular on the Mainland" plus "descriptive Hawaiian middle name that's too long for most blanks on official forms" (among Native Hawaiians, this name may have come to the parent or another relative in a dream), plus "one to two surnames from plantation-era immigrant cultures" -- but not always. Sometimes a mellifluous Hawaiian...

When it comes to names, everybody's got an opinion. But while figuring out what names people like is pretty simple -- the U.S. Social Security Administration keeps a list of the most popular baby names each year -- figuring out what people hate is trickier. It turns out that in the case of names, love and hate aren't mutually exclusive. A new informal survey of the most disliked names in America finds that popularity often breeds backlash, as a quick track to baby-name fame seems to also trigger hate for that name. Among the most-hated "trendy" names are Jayden, Brayden,...

There are few things more thrilling in life than having your first baby. But newbie baby namers are prone to making some mistakes that more experienced name choosers are able to avoid. If you're choosing a baby name for the first time, don't make one of these seven common mistakes: 1. Believing that the names that were popular -- and creative -- when you were a kid still have the same status. Name tastes have changed radically over the last decade or two. Goodbye, Jessica and Josh, hello Layla and Serenity, Landon and Tristan -- all top 100 names. 2....

POPE Benedict XVI has urged parents to use proper Christian names when naming their children.The Pope was believed to be speaking out against the trend of copying obscure celebrity baby names.Several Italian celebrities have fallen foul of religious tradition, most notably Formula One boss Flavio Briatore, whose son is called Falco, meaning Falcon.Christian names are an “indelible sign from the Holy Spirit� that help protect family life, the Pope said.Theologian Gianni Gennari said the Pope was “simply asking for seriousness when it comes to baptism�.

This little ditty goes back to 1994 AD. yet, it was brought to mind recently as I thought about how atheists, essentially, define “atheism” as “anti-Christianity,” or “anti-theism” or “anti-…” pick your poison... Moreover, “George Rollason said his daughter's name is the couple's answer to other parents' use of biblical names.” Imagine that; explaining that you chose your child’s name on the bases of shoving it in other people’s faces. Yet, this all seems in keeping with the Rollasons who “have clashed with the school district over angel decorations in the classroom and Bibles in the library.” See what I...

WASHINGTON,- The U.S. Social Security Administration said Jacob was the top baby boy name for the 11th year in a row in 2009 while Isabella took the top position for girls. The administration said Ethan took the second spot among boys, followed by Michael, Alexander, William, Joshua, Daniel, Jayden, Noah and Anthony. Jayden and Noah were new to the list this year, officials said. Emma, last year's top name for girls, was No. 2 on this year's list, followed by Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Abigail, Chloe and Mia. The officials said Mia was new to this year's Top 10....

• Fever Bender (born 1856) • Leper Priest (1929) • Cholera Priest (1830) • Rubella Graves (1814) • Typhus Black (1897) • Hysteria Johnson (1881) • Emma Royd (1850) • Kathryn E. Coli (1894) • Mumps Sykes (1891)

Trendy Baby Names a Sign of Group Think? The Latest Trends in Baby Names May Annoy People in Adulthood By LAUREN COX Dec. 4, 2009— In the future, names like Dick, Jane and Mary may sound exotic to the ears of the little Emmas, Ethans and Madisons who are just starting kindergarten now. Since the 1960s, whole sets of names seem to rise and then burst in popularity bubbles faster than the stock market. Many parents are surprised to find out that the seemingly unique name they picked for their child is shared by what seems like half the kindergarten...

The females of the first family made the list of the 1,000 most popular baby names, says a new report, but the president did not. Michelle, the first lady's name, and those of her daughters, Sasha and Malia, appeared on the list released Wednesday by the Social Security Administration, The New York Times reports. Sasha, at 353rd, hasn't changed much in rank in the past few years. Malia jumped to 345th most popular baby name last year from 400th in 2007, while Michelle dropped from 94th to 103rd. Other names proved popular because of their association with celebrities. Hillary jumped...

The females of the first family made the list of the 1,000 most popular baby names, says a new report, but the president did not. Michelle, the first lady's name, and those of her daughters, Sasha and Malia, appeared on the list released Wednesday by the Social Security Administration, The New York Times reports. Sasha, at 353rd, hasn't changed much in rank in the past few years. Malia jumped to 345th most popular baby name last year from 400th in 2007, while Michelle dropped from 94th to 103rd. Other names proved popular because of their association with celebrities. Hillary jumped...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Emily again topped the list of most popular baby girl names last year, registering as No. 1 for the 12th straight time. Jacob led among names for boys for the ninth year in a row. New parents didn't stray far from past habits in 2007 when naming their babies. Only one name — Elizabeth — is new to the top-10 list, returning after a two-year absence. Samantha, which previously ranked 10th, dropped to No. 12, according to the latest list released Saturday by the Social Security Administration. Biblical names continued to dominate the boys' list. Besides Jacob,...

The Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Forget Britney and Brad—Americans can’t get enough of Emily and Jacob. Once again, those top the list of the nation’s favorite baby names, according to the Social Security Administration, which tracks names based upon card applications for newborns. This Mother’s Day, PARADE has the exclusive first look at the most popular names for girls and boys in 2007. To see more names popular around the country, as well as America’s favorite baby names of the last century, click here. Boys 1 Jacob (#1 since 1999) 2 Michael (last year: #2) 3 Ethan (#4) 4...

Many parents want a distinctive, appropriate, special-but-not-too-special name for their children, and 58 percent believe the right name contributes to success. Some would even pay people to help find a name. Even with all the thinking that often goes into the decision, 3 percent of parents regret the names they chose and would change it if they could, according to a survey by BabyCenter. They often said they would make a switch because a name has become too popular or gets mispronounced. A few parents felt that the name just doesn't seem to fit their child, the company said. "Many...

Friday, September 05, 2003   Hillary is Most Poisoned Baby Name in History * A posting by Matt According to data published by the Social Security Administration, the name Hillary is the most severely poisoned baby name in history. Hillary had been steadily climbing the baby name charts since the 1960s, when it first graced the Top 1000, becoming the 136th most common name for baby girls in 1992. But the name sharply reversed course in 1993, smashing several longstanding records for name contamination in its plunge from the Top 1000 girl names last year. The title for the most...

What's in a name? Way too much where babies are concerned. According to The Wall Street Journal, parents are obsessing over what to name their kids. They're hiring consultants, applying mathematical formulas and software programs and even bringing in nutty spiritualist types. One couple hired a pair of consultants to draw up a list of suggestions based on "phonetic elements, popularity and ethnic and linguistic origins." One woman paid a "nameologist" $350 for three half-hour phone calls and a personalized manual describing each name's history and personality traits. Another spent $475 on a numerologist to see if her favorite name...

Vote Now! WORST BAD BABY NAMES of '06!

Vanity of vanities . . . I put a deposit down today on a female Black Labrador Retriever, born 8/16. She'll be ready to come home in October. So now I've got to figure out a name for this little bundle of joy. She's coming from Wisconsin, from Candlewood Kennels which is arguably the best field trial kennel in the country. She's not a typical field trial dog, she has some "dual purpose" (i.e. show and hunt test) on her mom's side. Her mom is a fully trained hunting dog who has produced good field dogs. The tradition is to...

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Chances are you don't have any friends named Nevaeh. Chances are today's toddlers will. In 1999, there were only eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh. Last year, it was the 70th-most-popular name for baby girls, ahead of Sara, Vanessa and Amanda. The spectacular rise of Nevaeh (commonly pronounced na-VAY-uh) has little precedent, name experts say. They watched it break into the top 1,000 of girls' names in 2001 at No. 266, the third-highest debut ever. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs, having made the fastest climb among all names since the government started keeping...

Someone needs to sit our people down and have a healthy discussion about the names we as African Americans are giving our children. We are hurting our kids and putting their futures in peril from the moment they are born. That’s right, I said it. We are KILLING our kids and crippling their futures with the names we give them. Don’t you want your kids to get JOBS someday? Good jobs, and serious careers? With a name like Jaquez Ja’Quan Diante’, you’re dooming your sons to a life of drug dealing on some seedy street corner. Our Black men face...

Parents of newborns at La Crosse’s two hospitals were likely to write down the names Ethan, Madeline, Samuel, Austin, Haley or Emma when filling out birth certificates in 2005, hospital officials said Tuesday. Madeline was the No. 1 girls’ name, while Ethan easily was the top choice for boys, with twice as many Ethans as Samuels and Austins, the second most popular boys’ names. Ethan was the top baby name, boy or girl. Although Madeline was the No. 1 choice for girls at Franciscan Skemp, Haley was by far the most popular girls’ name at Gundersen Lutheran. Ethan was the...

Everybody has done it: Put on their best deep Darth Vader voice and said, "Psssggssttt, Luke, I am your father." But Ron Purvis, a Frankfort father of two, wanted to be able to do it for real. So, 10 years ago, little Luke Purvis came into the world, shouldering his father's hopes that he would embody all the fundamentally good qualities of his celluloid namesake -- Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker. Luke Purvis even tried to wield The Force when another Purvis boy was born. Anakin, he told his parents, we need to call him Anakin. Fearing that Anakin would...

Baghdad - With many in Iraq regarding the first free vote in half a century as the rebirth of democracy, one woman who gave birth on Sunday named her baby girl "Intikhabat", Arabic for elections, a newspaper reported. "We called her Elections because she was born on this historic day when Iraqis elected their representatives at the national assembly," the baby's aunt was quoted as saying by the Al-Sabah newspaper on Wednesday. The Baghdad daily said the baby, born at Baghdad's Al-Alwiya hospital, was in good health.

Certain first names make people more attractive to the opposite sex while others are a turn-off, say linguists. In an experiment, they found that pictures of men were rated as more appealing if they were called Ed, Matt or Mike than if their names were given as Paul, Sean or Roger. The authors of the study claim the explanation lies in vowel sounds. Women prefer names with short vowels, such as e and i, produced at the front of the mouth. However, the opposite is true for men. They prefer women's names with longer vowel sounds such as Laura, Moira...

Crazy Baby Names! Watch out Marge Simpson: Erykah Badu's son with Andre 300 of Outkast is called Seven. He's now...7. Wa-hey!

Hillary is Most Poisoned Baby Name in History By Matt Evans According to data published by the Social Security Administration, the name Hillary is the most severely poisoned baby name in history. Hillary had been steadily climbing the baby name charts since the 1960s, when it first graced the Top 1000, becoming the 136th most common name for baby girls in 1992. But the name sharply reversed course in 1993, smashing several longstanding records for name contamination in its plunge from the Top 1000 girl names last year. [MORE AT THE LINK: http://www.stuartbuck.blogspot.com/2003_09_01_stuartbuck_archive.html#106275126260443997]

When it comes to parents choosing names for their daughters, do you think the name Hillary will carry a negative connotation (as does the name Jezebel)? I know that, if I had a newborn girl, and someone mentioned the name Hillary, it would carry a negative connotation, at least for me. The same goes for Chelsea. This is not to insult anyone who has those two names, or children with those two names. I just cannot help thinking that Hillary is making that name undesirable.