THE most recent listings for the top boy and girl names show that Americans still tend to give children biblical or saint names.
According to the Social Security Administration (SSA) that maintains a website that tracks the names given to children in America, there are exceptions in the top 10 such as Jayden for boys (#8) and Madison (#7) for girls. The top name for boys in 2009 was Jacob and for girls it was Isabella.
Surprisingly, Mary is not in the top 10. That was not the case from 55 years from 1910. In those years, Mary was either the #1 or #2 name for girls in the US.
In 2009, this name dropped out of the top 100 for the first time (currently #102). By comparison, Joseph has remained consistently popular. Although at #16 in 2009 this is the lowest rank for Joseph since 1910.
According to SSA, the names of Gospel authors have historically been popular boy names but there is considerable variation over time.
The most consistently popular name has been John which was in the top 10 from 1910 to 1972. However, currently John is ranked #26. At the same time John exited the top 10, Matthew entered the most popular group. Now, Matthew is just outside the top 10 at #13.
Mark has also fallen out of favor. Mark was a top 10 name from 1955 to 1970 but fell out of the top 100 in 2003 (currently #154). Luke has had the biggest rise in popularity since 1910.
In 1950 Luke was the #511 boys name. It rose to #222 in 1976 and entered the top 100 in 1993 and has remained there since (#48 in 2009).
