Friday, May 12, 2006

AVA ASCENDANT: It's one of the most wonderful times of the year -- the day when the new Social Security Administration baby names report is posted for all to peruse. And today we can check out the top names of 2005.

Looking at the top 20, the boys' names are fairly static. The only name new to the top 20 this year is Jonathan, coming in at #19. Dylan, last year's #19, is out of the top 20. And there was no movement whatsoever among the top 7: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Andrew, and Daniel.

Not so much movement among the girls' names as between last year and this year, either. The big news is Ava, which leapt from #25 last year to a red-hot #9 this year. The only other name new to the top 20 is Mia at #17. Dropping from the top 20 are Lauren and Kayla, last year's #16 and #18, respectively. Emily, Emma, and Madison remain the top 3 girls' names for a third consecutive year.

Of course, the real entertainment value of the list lies less in monitoring the top 10-20 names than in watching the trajectory of individual names over time and assessing whether a particular name has jumped the shark or will have jumped the shark by the time one's wee offspring hits the first grade. Have fun.

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