What are the most popular names for American babies?
September 5th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Each Mother’s Day in the United States, the Commissioner of Social Security publishes the most popular baby names based on all social security card applications for children born the previous year. The latest available lists of the top ten boys’ and girls’ names, relating to the year 2011, are as follows:
| Position | Boys | Girls |
| 1 | Jacob | Sophia |
| 2 | Mason | Isabella |
| 3 | William | Emma |
| 4 | Jayden | Olivia |
| 5 | Noah | Ava |
| 6 | Michael | Emily |
| 7 | Ethan | Abigail |
| 8 | Alexander | Madison |
| 9 | Aiden | Mia |
| 10 | Daniel | Chloe |
Several points can be made about these lists.
Firstly, it is a stable pair of lists. Jacob has been top of the male list since 1999, while Emily has only just fallen a little after having been in the top three female name from 1996-2008.
Secondly, for all the ethnic diversity of the USA, both these lists are remarkably Anglo-Saxon. None of the boys’ names except Jayden and Mason would be out of place in the UK and, of the girls’ names, only Madison would look odd in Britain.
Thirdly, there some distinct similarities between the most popular names in the USA and the UK. Five of the top ten American boys’ names and six of the top ten American girls’ names are in the top 20 for UK names of the appropriate gender. In the United States, two of the top four boys’ names begin with ‘J’, while this is the case for four of the top ten boys’ names in Britain. Emily is the sixth most popular girls’ name in the USA and it is the fifth most popular girls’ name in Britain.
As in many countries (and possibly even more so), in the USA names come in to and fall out of fashion very rapidly. Take Jacob which has topped the boys’ names list for more than a decade; the name was hardly used at all until the 1960s when it suddenly exploded into popularity. Or consider the girls’ name Emily; this was a modestly-used name in gentle decline until, again in the 1960s, it became incredibly popular.
I’m fascinated by the different names and naming practices around the world and I have written a major essay on the subject here.
Posted in American current affairs, Cultural issues | Comments (0)
What are the most popular names for British babies?
September 5th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Names change in popularity. According to the data compiled annually by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the most popular names for children born in England & Wales during 2011 were as follows:
| Position | Boys | Girls |
| 1 | Harry | Amelia |
| 2 | Oliver | Olivia |
| 3 | Jack | Lily |
| 4 | Alfie | Jessica |
| 5 | Charlie | Emily |
| 6 | Thomas | Sophie |
| 7 | Jacob | Ruby |
| 8 | James | Grace |
| 9 | Joshua | Ava |
| 10 | William | Isabella |
| 11 | Ethan | Evie |
| 12 | George | Chloe |
| 13 | Riley | Mia |
| 14 | Daniel | Poppy |
| 15 | Samuel | Isla |
| 16 | Noah | Ella |
| 17 | Oscar | Isabelle |
| 18 | Joseph | Sophia |
| 19 | Mohammed | Freya |
| 20 | Max | Daisy |
There are some patterns here.
First of all, astonishingly the second most popular boys’ name and the second most popular girls’ name are essentially the same – what is technically known as cognates – and these names have been in the top two for their gender for the last three years. Is this the case in any other nation?
Second, it is striking how traditional most of the names are for both boys and girls, although for the boys it is interesting that the familiar form of names rather than the original version is often preferred – Jack instead of John, Harry instead of Harold, Alfie instead of Alfred, Charlie instead of Charles.
Third, in the case of boys, five of the top 20 names begin with the letter ‘J’ while, in the case of girls, nine of the top 20 names end with the letter ‘a’, seven of the top 20 names end with the sound ‘ee’, and nine of the top 20 names contain one or more of the letter ‘l’.
On the other hand, the name David – which is the second most common name in Britain – slipped out of the top 50 of names chosen for baby boys born in 2004 and has stayed out (it is currently 57th). Similarly Margaret – the most common female name in the population as a whole – does not even appear in the top 100 names chosen for girls these days. These observations underline how much fashion shapes the popularity of different names.
It should be noted that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) produces its ranking of the popularity of names using the exact spelling of the name given at birth registration. If one combines the numbers for names with very similar spellings, a different picture is revealed.
For boys, combining the occurrence of Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad and Muhammed would put the name in second place – a reflection of the changing ethnicity of the British population. Similarly, if one combines the occurrence of Isabella, Isabelle, Isabel and Isobel, one would find the name top by far of the girls’ list.
I’m fascinated by the different names and naming practices around the world and I have written a major essay on the subject here.
Posted in British current affairs, Cultural issues | Comments (1)
The city of Nanjing: 1937 and 2000
September 4th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In 1937, Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, then the capital of China, and massacred up to 300,000 Chinese. I have just seen an impressive Chinese film on the atrocity called “City Of Life And Death” which I have reviewed here.
On the first of my three visits to China in 2000, I visited Nanjing and I have written about that time here.
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
The one sanctioned form of birth control
September 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
The war that Canada won
September 3rd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Most people in the Britain have never heard of the War of 1812 whose 200th anniversary is of course this year. Many Americans know little about it either. But the event has a special resonance in Canada.
The war was between the United States and Britain and, in course of it, the Americans made repeated but failed attempts to invade Canada.
If you are a diligent reader of NightHawk, you will know about this war because I blogged about it in this posting.
Today the ‘Guardian” newspaper has a short article on the war that Canada ‘won’ and you can read it here.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
A review of the remake of “Total Recall”
September 2nd, 2012 by Roger Darlington
A blockbuster sci-fi movie on its opening weekend ought to fill a cinema, but the theatre in my local multiplex was barely half full for the remake of the 1990 film “Total Recall”. You can read my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention
September 1st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
You can view the full 40-minute speech here:
If you’re short of time, you can read the full text here.
Then you should look at a fact checker of the speech here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (1)
Why hurricanes keep hitting Republican conventions
September 1st, 2012 by Roger Darlington
We know why the Republicans chose to hold their National Convention in Florida. It is a swing state with a large number of votes in the Electoral College.
We think we know why the Convention was threatened by a hurricane and had to cancel its first day. It’s the hurricane season and Florida is frequently in the path of hurricanes.
But this is not the first time that the Republican National Convention has been disrupted by a hurricane and some God-fearing Americans see the intervention of the Almighty. All is explained here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (2)
10 things about the Paralympics
August 29th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, the Olympics are over and today sees the opening of the Paralympics. The BBC web site has provided a helpful explanation of 10 differences between the two Games including guidance on the classification system used for Paralympians. Check it out here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Now the American presidential race gets serious (1)
August 28th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
“Romney wants to—he said in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street! They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
This is Democratic Vice President Joe Biden – the man who is a heart beat away from the Presidency – making an insightful comment on reform of financial institutions.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)