Dear Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee,
We are trying to figure out some names for our first baby and we don't know if it's going to be a boy or girl. We have several names picked out, but then when we mention our choices, someone will say that's so common, or everybody is naming their baby that. We are not aiming for a unique name, but also don't want a name that is too popular. How can we find out if a baby name is too common?
Signed,
Overwhelmed
Dear Overwhelmed,
A good indication of a popular name would be the names actually chosen and registered with the United States Social Security Administration (SSA).
At the SSA website (www.ssa.gov), you can find the popular baby names for the years of birth between 1880 and 2007. For example, the SSA top 10 baby names in 2007 for boys were in order: Jacob, Michael, Ethan Joshua, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony, William, Matthew, and Andrew. For girls, the top 10 were Emily, Isabella, Emma, Ava, Madison, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, Hannah, and Elizabeth.