Emily and Jacob top list for eighth year

Published 9:02 pm Wednesday, September 26, 2007

By Staff
What's in a name?
The choice made at the birth of a child will last a lifetime. So much of how we view ourselves comes from the moment when our parents choose our name.
Our initials may spell out something which will cause teasing on the playground or inspire us to become a doctor.
According to the Social Security office, Emily and Jacob were the most popular baby names for the eighth year in a row.
This information is based on more than 4.2 million Social Security card applications for children born last year.
Following Emily are Emma, Madison, Isabella, Ava, Abigail, Olivia, Hannah, Sophia and Samantha.
After Jacob are Michael, Joshua, Ethan, Matthew, Daniel, Christopher, Andrew, Anthony and William.
Emily has been the most popular female name each year since 1996. Jacob has been the top male name since 1999.
Sophia is new to the top 10 for the first time and William returns after not making the tp 10 in 2005.
I wonder how many of our names come from movies, books and television.
Though we didn't name our son Shane for the movie, it was one of our favorites.
The Social Security website at www.socialsecurity.gov has a list of the names, if you wish to look for yours. Just type in baby names.
In addition to a list of the 1,000 most popular baby names for 2006, there is a list of the most popular baby names for each state.
Also, there is a list of the top 100 names for twins born in 2006. Jacob and Joshua are again the most popular twin's names.
Social Security started compiling baby name lists in 1997. Today, the Social Security website offers lists of baby names for each year since 1880.
In Michigan, Ava tops the list, followed by Emma, Madison, Olivia and Emily.
The same five are in Indiana's list, but with Emma beating out Ava for the top spot and Olivia coming in third.
For boys, it is Jacob, Ethan, Benjamin, Tyler and Logan for Michigan and Andrew, Michael and William in the last three positions for Indiana.
The top 10 names for twins each start with the same letter: Jacob/Joshua, Matthew/Michael, Daniel/David, Ella/Emma, Isaac/Isaiah, Madison/Morgan, Landon/Logan, Taylor/Tyler, Brandon/Bryan and Christian/Christopher.
As reporters, it becomes quite difficult to get everyone's name correct.
Take this one name for example: Kaitlin, or is it spelled, Kaitlyn, Kaitlynn, Katelin, Katelyn, Katelynn or Katlyn.
Parents often try to be different, so they change a s to a z, such as Izabella and Izaac.
Through the years, people have spelled my name Marsha. Other than when they say, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, it really doesn't bother me.
On the Social Security website, I put in my name and it tells me how popular Marcia has been since I was born.
It went down in popularity, from 79 in 1948 to 986 in 1993. Then it dropped off the list of the top 1,000.
My middle name, Louise, was number 99 and is also no longer on the list.
I am just glad no one called me what she had hoped – Marci Lou.