The biggest baby name news of 2009 was Emma’s rise to the number one spot for girls’ names, becoming only the ninth girls’ name in U.S. history to claim first place.

　　EMMA unseated EMILY, which slipped to number three, after a 12-year-reign.  ISABELLA moved up to number two, but if taken together with sister ISABEL and ISABELLE, would have been the number one name.

　　On the boys’ side, the name that would be number one if the Social Security Administration counted all spelling variations together was AIDEN (and AIDAN and AYDEN, et al), which taken together account for more boys than received longtime number one name JACOB.

　　The only new entry to the girls’ Top Ten was CHLOE, replacing Hannah.  The boys’ Top Ten remained the same.

　　The names making the fastest leaps up the popularity ladder showed a strong celebrity influence, especially for girls.  The Top Ten Fastest Movers for girls were:

　　KHLOE – As in reality star Kardashian

　　MARLEE – And Me….

　　MARELY

　　AUDRINA – The nouveau name of another reality star, Patridge

　　MARLEY – The original spelling of the name of both the dog and reggae star Bob.

　　DANNA

　　JASLENE — From America’s Next Top Model.

　　LILAH

　　PAISLEY

　　MILEY – Teen star Cyrus

　　For boys, the most dramatic movers were:

　　JACOBY — as in Ellsbury, of the Boston Red Sox

　　KANE

　　BECKETT

　　PAXTON

　　KALE

　　AUGUST

　　BRAYLON

　　RYKER

　　KINGSTON – Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s son.

　　KOLTON

　　Other trendy names getting a boost from their celebrity associations include, for girls:

　　VALENTINA (Salma Hayek’s daughter)

　　RIHANNA – The pop singer

　　KIMORA – Lee Simmons, mom of newborn Kenzo.

　　HAYDEN – For girls, after Panettiere, star of Heroes

　　MALIA – Inspired by the older Obama daughter

　　For boys, other celebrity-inspired hotties include:

　　RIVER – The name of Keri Russell’s son.

　　MILO – Liv Tyler’s choice for her little boy.

　　JUDE – Actor Law.

　　KOBE – Basketball star Bryant.

　　CRUZ – Spanish choice inspired by the youngest son of Victoria and David Beckham.

　　Even fictional characters have an influence.  One name newly on the baby-namers’ scope is SLOANE for girls, thanks to the character on HBO’s Entourage.  For boys’, COHEN entered the mix, via the surname of the popular character on The O.C., along with SILAS, name of the older son on Weeds and DEXTER, Showtime’s lovable mass murderer.  And all the Twilight names, from EDWARD to CULLEN to BELLA to ESME, are newly in favor.

　　Sloane was new to the Top 1000, along with GEMMA, ISLA (as in red-headed star Fisher), MATILDA (daughter of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger); and for boys, CALLUM, extremely popular throughout Britain but a newcomer to the U.S.

　　Once a name starts getting more popular, it tends to keep getting more popular, according to one new study that received a lot of attention this year. Todd Gureckis, an assistant professor at NYU, and Robert Goldstone, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana U-Bloomington, concluded that in recent decades, “names have a momentum that pushed changes in popularity in the same direction year after year.”

　　Other name studies of note this year included one from Shippensburg University that found that boys with unpopular names are more likely to enter the juvenile justice system than those with widely-used monikers.  And a Pew Research Study found that second and third generation Hispanic parents in the U.S. are less likely to use typically Latin names….even as distinctly ethnic names received more widespread acceptance.

　　Name trends around the world diverged widely from those in the U.S., even in English-speaking countries.  Names on Britain’s Top Ten for girls that are not among the U.S. Top names are RUBY, SOPHIE (Americans prefer SOPHIA), LILY, AMELIA, EVIE, JESSICA (a number one name in the late 1980s in America, but now dropping fast), and GRACE.

　　For boys, names on Britain’s Top Ten that are vastly more popular than they are in the U.S. include: JACK (at or near the top of the list in most other English-speaking countries but still rising here), OLIVER, THOMAS, HARRY, ALFIE, and CHARLIE (yes, in their short forms).

　　A number of names in the UK top 100 don’t appear in the US top 1000 at all!  These include, for girls:

　　ESME

　　FLORENCE

　　FREYA

　　HARRIET

　　HOLLIE

　　IMOGEN

　　MAISIE

　　MILLIE

　　NIAMH

　　POPPY

　　ROSIE

　　TILLY

　　And for boys:

　　ALFIE

　　ARCHIE

　　EWAN

　　FREDDIE

　　HARVEY

　　LOUIE

　　THEO

　　ZAK

　　On nameberry in 2009, the most popular names were different from those in the general population.  The Top Ten Most-Viewed, for girls were (in order of popularity):

　　VIOLET

　　IMOGEN

　　CHARLOTTE

　　MAEVE

　　SCARLETT

　　RUBY

　　ISLA

　　STELLA

　　HARPER

　　OLIVIA

　　And for boys:

　　FINN

　　ASHER

　　JASPER

　　HENRY

　　JAMES

　　KAI

　　ATTICUS

　　SAWYER

　　MILO

　　JACK

　　Other names that ranked high on nameberry users’ favorites list included, for girls:

　　MATILDA

　　IRIS

　　LUCY

　　ADELAIDE

　　ALICE

　　CLAIRE and CLARA

　　AMELIA

　　CLEMENTINE

　　ELIZA

　　BEATRICE

　　And for boys:

　　OLIVER

　　FELIX

　　OSCAR

　　JUDE

　　LEO

　　LIAM

　　OWEN

　　ELI and ELIJAH

　　BENJAMIN

　　JACKSON (Michael‘s death, oddly, should propel this one upward)