Sophia, Jacob most popular baby names of 2011
Associated Press May 14, 2012 1:22PM
Odds are this little tyke is a Jacob or Isabella – the top baby names in the United States.
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Updated: May 17, 2012 1:32AM
Sophia is the new most popular baby name for girls, while Jacob is the top name for boys for the 13th straight year in a new list of popular baby names in the United States heavily influenced by religion and reality TV. Isabella — which had been the top girl’s name for two years — dropped to second place in 2011, according to the list released Monday by the the Social Security Administration. Emma, Olivia and Ava rounded out the top five. Mason — as in Mason Kardashian — jumped 10 spots to become the second-most popular name for newborn boys last year, knocking Michael out of the top five for the first time in 63 years. Kourtney Kardashian, the reality TV star, gave birth to Mason in December 2009. Rounding out the top five for boys: William, Jayden and Noah. Michael came in sixth, the name’s lowest ranking since 1948. Top girl names tend to be volatile — changing from year to year — while the top boy names are more stable. William, for example, has been a popular boy’s name for more than 100 years, never falling out of the top 20. Mason is the exception, entering the top 100 for the first time in 1997. On the girls’ side, Sophia first cracked the top 100 in 1997. Isabella dropped off the list altogether from 1949 to 1990. The fastest-rising name for girls: Briella, which jumped 394 spots, to No. 497. Briella Calafiore stars in “Jerseylicious,” a reality TV show about battling stylists at a beauty salon in New Jersey. She’s also in a spinoff called “Glam Fairy.” Brantley was the fastest-rising name for boys, jumping 416 spots to No. 320. Brantley Gilbert is a singer who had a No. 1 country hit called “Country Must Be Country Wide.”
