Celebs influence parents choice if baby names
The US list of most popular baby names has been released for babies born in 2009. Celebrities remained a huge influence on parents, but it was biblical Jacob that held onto the boy’s top spot for the 11th year running.
The huge popularity of the Twilight series was obvious with Isabella, the female lead in the vampire series, replacing Emma as the top girl’s name. Cullen, made famous by her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, also rocketed up 300 places since 2008.
The top ten boys are Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, William, Joshua, Daniel, Jayden, Noah, and Anthony.
And girls: Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Abigail, Chloe and Mia.
Baby names also reflect the fickle world of celebrity, as favourite names of last year like Miley (Cyrus), Lindsay (Lohan) and Jonas (from the band, Jonas brothers) all took a tumble.
The White House provided some inspiration with Barack leaping up the charts along with Malia and Sasha (Obama’s daughters) also gaining popularity.
Of the top ten boys names, Daniel, William and Joshua matched our UK boys top ten, which you can find on our baby names finder. On the girls’ side, Olivia, Emily, Chloe and Mia are top in the UK too.
