How popular is your name?

[7rider]

With so much discussion here lately about names.....

Another forum posted this link to the SSA's popular baby name list: http://ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

Fun links from this site:
See what names were popular the year you were born.
Or.
Check you the popularity of your own name. How has it changed over the years?

Mine? It's been on a steady decline for the past 40 years - hasn't been in the top 100 since 1971 and is lately hanging out around the 600 level!

[Eden]

hmmm mine has been steadily climbing 958th in 1986 to 257th last year. I guess before 1986 my name wasn't in the top 1000 so no data for those years. I've only met one or two others who share my name, so I know its not that usual - though it sounds like there may be more and more kiddies running around out there with it these days.

[kat_h]

When I lived in England I knew five other people named Kat. In Canada I've only ever met one other.

Someone on this forum uses my surname as her forum name. I wonder about that sometimes.

[Aggie_Ama]

Mine is declining in popularity, 112 last year. The year I was born (1981) it was 3. It started gaining popularity in the 1970's and held strong through the 90's.

[GLC1968]

Mine has dropped a little in the past 10 years or so (to about 100). In the past 100 years, it's been between 20 and 50 pretty consistantly. I saw some other list of records once that showed the popularity of names over the past couple of centuries. Mine's been around for hundredes of years and it's pretty much always been popular.

Related story: When I was in high school, there were 5 girls who went by Cathy in my grade (some were Catherine and some were Kathleen). We all ended up in the same AP biology class. The teacher assigned us seats alphabetically. All 5 of us ended up sitting in a row together because our last names started with Bi, Bo, Ch, De, Fa and there were no other students that fell in between us (in that class). What are the chances??

[Pax]

Mine isn't even ranked in the top 1000, it hit it's highest ranking in 1968 at 29th. Cool, I have a relatively unique name!

[NoNo]

Annette was in the mid-260's in 1981, and has been on a steady decline since then, now wallowing in the mid-800's. Considering I was supposed to be Rocco and presented a wicked surprise to my parents, I can only assume they pulled my name out of thin air. I only know one other Annette, a family friend. Aside from that, I've never met any, nor can I ever buy those little license plates with names on them

[LBTC]

I looked at the last 100 years.

The year of my birth: 28
2007: 548
Best ranking: 18 (1961, 62 & 63)

My DH:
Year of his birth: 2
2007: 19
Lowest ranking: 20 (2006)
Highest ranking: 1 (1908-1923)

Fun thing to look up! Thanks for the link!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Blueberry]

Wow. Interesting.

My name was 35th the year I was born, but has been on a steady decline and is now 988! Who knew?! Even more interesting...it peaked in popularity the 2 years before I was born. It was my great grandmother's name, so that's not the reason I have it - just a coincidence. I was supposed to be named Courtney, but my Dad nixed that one at the last minute.

[mimitabby]

my name is not in the top 1000 names for any year since it started. my last name and maiden name are rare too.
my nickname, which you all know, hovers around 900-1000 from year to year.

[milkbone]

Year of my birth: 217

2007: Didn't even make the list of 1000....

Oh well...very interesting though

[indysteel]

My given name, Katherine, has maintained its popularlity fairly steadily since I was born in 1969. My nickname, Kate, has increasingly grown in popularity, however. I don't know many Kates my age, but I know a ton of 5 year olds!

[Chile Pepper]

I rather dislike my name. It was the number one name for girls for 14 years running--from 1970 to 1984. (Have you guessed it yet? Jennifer.) It was number 31 the year I was born. Considering that, I have met surprisingly few Jennifers over the years. Could they all be going by their middle names? I would love to change my name, but I'm not sure how to go about getting people to call me anything else at this point. I also have no idea what I would rather be called.

[F8th637]

My nickname (shortened version of my first name) shows up in the top list but my correctly spelled full first name does not show up on the top list within the past 185 years! Truly unique, I tell ya!

[uforgot]

I rather dislike my name. It was the number one name for girls for 14 years running--from 1970 to 1984. (Have you guessed it yet? Jennifer.) It was number 31 the year I was born. Considering that, I have met surprisingly few Jennifers over the years. Could they all be going by their middle names? I would love to change my name, but I'm not sure how to go about getting people to call me anything else at this point. I also have no idea what I would rather be called.

I always wanted a popular name when I was growing up. And for the record, I think Jennifer is a beautiful name. I have met maybe 3 other Claudias in my entire life. None of those cute little "name" things you see in stores has Claudia on them. Now, I rather like it. It's different. For the past 50 years it has always ranked around 200 until last year and jumped to 404. Even MORE unpopular than ever!

Fun thread!