Jacob & Emma Rule As 2008 Baby Names

All hail Jacob and Emma as the most popular baby names according to the Social Security Administration.

Jacob rules for the tenth straight year, but parents went for change with Emma knocking Emily from the top spot after a dozen consecutive years.

The rankings are set by a simple method: a baby is born and their name is supplied to SSA for a social security number.

Here are your top ten names nationwide for boys and girls:

Boys
Jacob  
Michael  
Ethan  
Joshua  
Daniel
Alexander  
Anthony
William  
Christopher  
Matthew

Girls
Emma
Isabella
Emily
Madison
Ava
Olivia
Sophia
Abigail
Elizabeth

In the Carolinas, William was the top name for boys. Madison was the top choice for girls in South Carolina with Emma reigning in North Carolina.

So how did the name Barack fare for babies last year. On the down side, Barack didn’t make the top 1,000 choices for boys. However, Barack made what’s believed to be a record one-year jump.
Barack rose by more than 10,000 spots from number 12,535 in 2007 to 2,409 in 2008.

Social Security’s forecasts Barack will be well into the top thousand in 2009.

Miley also climbed last year with a 127th place finish for girls after coming in at number 279 in 2007. Each parent with a child with that name owes Miley Cyrus $100. (just kidding)

Oh and the name Fred you ask? It’s a seventh straight year outside of the top 1,000. (sigh)

You can look up names yourself through the Social Security Administration by clicking here