By Kelli Brady of NameFreak!__ 　　A couple of months ago, I attended a Sock Hop with my daughter. It was loads of fun and inspired me to delve into the 1950s and, of course, its most popular names. 　　As I looked at the Top 100 names of the decade, the thing...

　　**By Kelli Brady at NameFreak!** 　　Words have always been chosen as names for children. Some are virtues, some are occupations, some are pretty flowers or colors, and some are actions or structures. And no matter what reason parents have for choosing a word name, there should be consideration for the thing...

　　The secret vault of truly unique baby names is real, but only the US government holds the key. 　　To protect privacy, the Social Security Administration doesn’t release names given to only one child, drawing the line at five or more. So the names given to five babies are the most...

　　by Linda Rosenkrantz 　　It’s an inarguable fact that celebrity baby name choices have an impact on the rest of the population.  But which of them have had a lasting influence and which luminaries have hit the sweet spot more than once? 　　With some names it was not a single celeb...

　　by Angela Mastrodonato of Upswing Baby Names 　　Once upon a time, most parents would have never imagined naming their children Arya, Iker or Major. Now these are some of the fastest rising baby names in the U.S. With formerly unusual names hitting the mainstream, some parents are left wondering where...

　　By Kelli Brady of NameFreak! 　　The letter V gives us relatively few usable names, but many of  the ones it does give us are gems. From the queenly Victoria and the steady Vincent to the wonderfully rare Verity and the popular sound of Vander, V names are where it’s at!...

　　Our top UK correspondent, Eleanor Nickerson, has the following lead story on today’s release of the new popularity data from the UK Office for National Statistics on her blog British Baby Names. Check there for a lot more fascinating statistics on top names by region and month and those most popular...

　　Many of us at Nameberry automatically dislike names that are “too popular.” 　　But look more closely at the most popular names and you’ll find lots of wonderful names that deserve their widespread use.  Names that have stood the test of time, that have intrinsically pleasing sounds, that are associated with...

　　by Angela Mastrodonato of Upswing Baby Names 　　Legions of expectant parents search for that “underused classic” name each year. 　　But what exactly is an “underused classic” name? Do underused classic names even exist? Are they some impossible standard like names that are universally appealing and forever-guaranteed-to-stay-unique? 　　“Classic” can be interpreted...

　　By Brooke Cussans of Baby Name Pondering 　　For many name nerds there are two things that are usually pretty high on their want list when choosing names. One is that the name isn’t too “trendy” – so that it won’t seem too dated in years to come and instantly mark...

　　by Jen Kim 　　A quick Google search will render more than 11 million results for the name Jennifer Kim, while White Pages will say there are more than 600 of us in the United States. Personally, I think there are more. 　　There is a Jennifer Kim who is a journalist and writer (not...

　　You may have noticed an updated and improved feature on Nameberry recently: Most name pages now include a list of other suggested names. 　　If you like the unusual Welsh name Cadogan, for instance, you might also like Harrington, Lanier, and Adonis (really?) for boys, and Arianwen and Delancey for girls....

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　Though we here in the U.S. have to wait until May for our official 2013 popularity lists to be revealed, some other countries manage to get their reports ready even before the year ends.  As these listings start to trickle in, I thought I’d fill you in...