COMMON & UNCOMMON NAMES

One way I like to chronicle our society today is by analyzing the most popular baby names. One can follow the trends by comparing the most popular names given from year to year. I have studied the 1000 most popular names for boys and girls in 2005 gleaned from Social Security records as well as the 10,000 or so most common first name for all Americans.

In 2005, people favored biblical names. Jacob was No. 1, followed by Michael and Joshua, although Josh was No. 752. Speaking of the patriarchs, Isaac was No. 50 and Abraham was No. 193. How about prophets: Elijah was No. 31, while Isaiah was No. 45. I should point out that many parents were spelling-challenged and there are separate listings for Issac and Isiah, not to mention Jakob. Jeremiah was No. 78 and Malachi was No. 162. On the other hand, Moses was only No. 536, and Jesus was No. 73.

Ezekiel, of spaceship fame, (Ezekiel 1) was No. 309. Some other interesting names included Elvis (No. 784), while Presley was No. 513 among girls. Frank (No. 234) Sinatra is no longer popular. Hugh (No. 969) Hefner no longer has much influence. Forget about Dion (No. 960) , with or without the Belmonts. Sammy was No. 862, as the Cubs were moving him out. Irving and Ulysses were tied at No. 976 (174 babies each). Keshawn came in No. 992. Amazingly, 304 people named their boy Xzavier (No. 677). Do you think he'll have to spell out his name wherever he goes? Harry (No. 526) Potter didn't impress many parents. Probably not surprisingly, Rush (Limbaugh) didn't appear in the top 1000.

(to be continued)