Our focus on baby names 2010 continues today with the top 100 boys’ names.

　　The top seven names remain the same from the first quarter count, with Henry, Finn, and Oliver weighing in at numbers 1, 2, and 3.  This greater stability on the boys’ side echoes the pattern in the overall U.S. popularity list, where boys’ names tend to maintain their places longer than girls’ names.

　　The fastest riser is Sawyer, with Declan, Simon, Micah, Graham, and Landon also making big leaps.  William also landed much higher on the list — but we suspect that’s our mistake and we missed it last time.  Names that slid the furthest are Kyle, and Caleb.

　　New to the Top 100 from the first quarter (and marked with an asterisk*) are Satchel, Nico, Nicholas, Xavier (number 101 in the last count), Micah, Graham, and Landon.  No-shows: Hugh, Griffin, and Liev. Also no longer among the top boys’ names are three that may have landed on the list last time around because we mistakenly included searches for the girls’ versions: Harper, Remy, and Rory.

　　But don’t read too much into which names are moving up and down the list compared with the first quarter. Most shifts are slight and temporary, and it’s hard to find any pattern behind them.  Some classic boys’ names like Michael and Alexander are heading down, for instance, but others such as John, Joseph, and Robert are trending up.  Luke and Luca are slipping down, but Lucas is up. These won’t necessarily translate into long term trends.

　　­­As we said with the girls’ list, this roster is vastly different than the official list of Most Popular Names in the U.S. The Social Security list is based on all actual births and name choices in the country, while the nameberry list measures which names our relatively style-conscious visitors are most curious about. Plus the nameberry list is up-to-the-minute, while the most recent Social Security list is for 2009.

　　Consider this, then, a look at which names may be more popular in the months and years ahead. We got some flack when we issued the quarterly list for calling these “elite” names, but we stand by that characterization. On the premise that nameberry’s visitors are better informed about names and have more discerning name taste than the general population (you do, don’t you?), we see these as names favored by parents who are looking for names with style, class, and staying power.

　　The boys’ Top 100 baby names 2010 are:

　　1.  HENRY =

　　2.  FINN =

　　3. OLIVER =

　　4. JAMES =

　　5. ASHER =

　　6. JACK =

　　7. MAX =

　　8. JASPER up

　　9. LIAM up

　　10. ATTICUS up

　　11. JUDE down

　　12. OWEN up

　　13. FELIX down

　　14. WILLIAM up!

　　15. KAI up

　　16. MILO up

　　17. NOAH up

　　18. JOHN up

　　19. LEO up

　　20. SAWYER up

　　21. SEBASTIAN up

　　22. MICHAEL down

　　23. HUDSON up

　　24. SATCHEL up*

　　25. LEVI =

　　26. THEO up

　　27. ALEXANDER down

　　28. AUDEN up

　　29. BENJAMIN up

　　30. ROWAN up

　　31. AUGUST down

　　32. DASHIELL up

　　33. PHINEAS down

　　34. RYAN down

　　35. RHYS down

　　36. BECKETT up

　　37. MILES down

　　38. ELI down

　　39. ELLIOT down

　　40. RILEY down

　　41. LUCAS up

　　42. ETHAN up

　　43. SILAS down

　　44. ANDREW up

　　45. OSCAR up

　　46. JACOB up

　　47. LOGAN up

　　48. DAVID up

　　49. ISAAC up

　　50. MASON down

　　51. EVAN down

　　52. JACKSON down

　　53. DECLAN up

　　54. THOMAS down

　　55. DANIEL =

　　56. ROMAN down

　　57. KYLE down

　　58. EDWARD down

　　59. EZRA up

　　60. CHARLIE down

　　61. CHARLES down

　　62. GEORGE down

　　63. GUS down

　　64. GABRIEL up

　　65. LUKE down

　　66. TOBIAS up

　　67. COLE down

　　68. SIMON up

　　69. SAMUEL up

　　70. LUCA down

　　71. DYLAN down

　　72. WYATT down

　　73. NATHAN down

　　74. PETER down

　　75. THEODORE up

　　76. AIDAN up

　　77. DEXTER =

　　78. JOSEPH up

　　79. EVERETT up

　　80. JULIAN up

　　81. MATTHEW down

　　82. ROBERT up

　　83. IAN up

　　84. JONAH up

　　85. NICO up*

　　86. CALEB down

　　87. SAM up

　　88. CARTER up

　　89. ASH down

　　90. EMMETT up

　　91. CALLUM down

　　92. NICHOLAS up*

　　93. XAVIER up*

　　94. HOLDEN down

　　95. GAVIN up

　　96. ORION up

　　97. MICAH up*

　　98. GRAHAM up*

　　99. LANDON up*

　　100. RUFUS =