By Arika Okrent 　　Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at [_TheWeek.com](http://theweek.com/article/index/251655/the-least-popular-american-baby-names-from-1880-to-1932) and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Thanks to Arika for permission to reprint this...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　Now that Social Security has released the top names for every state, we can move beyond the broad nationwide picture and delve into the more regional patterns.  As you’ll see below, far from every state was on board with newly crowned Noah—in fact he topped the lists...

　　These name choices are entirely my opinion, and you might not agree with them.  But after reading through the Below The Top 1000 list from the SSA, I picked out the best names I could find that were spelled properly or at least very close to the original. What do...

　　The website Swimmingly recently published this very cool infographic on which place names were used for the most babies in the US in 2013.  The surprising results: Malaysia is the hottest place name for babies, beating out America, India, and yes, Sierra Leone. (And yup, there was a pop culture connection–the...

　　by Pamela Redmond Satran 　　I’ve been thinking lately about the name Jennifer. 　　The biggest down side of being named Jennifer, I think, is not its enormous popularity — it was the Number 1 name from 1970 through 1983, when over a million Jennifers were born.  It’s certainly not the name...

　　By Brian Tomlin 　　Looking at names that were popular in the early days of the U.S. gives us a chance to reflect on how much we have changed and evolved over the last two centuries. We are clearly more multicultural as a society in terms of how many different countries,...

　　By Matthew Woods, liquidsymbol.com 　　Some names become popular for a few years, and then fade out of use. Other names remain common for decades at a time. There are names you will find across the U.S., and names that only become popular in part of the country. 　　It’s difficult to...

　　by Pamela Redmond Satran 　　When the 2013 US Popular Baby Names list came out back in May, we ran Kelli Brady aka The Name Freak‘s wonderful Playground Analysis blog, with her count of the REAL Top 50 baby names. Kelli tallies all spelling variations of the top names to arrive...

　　By Eleanor Nickerson, British Baby Names 　　It’s official! The number 1 names in 2013 for England and Wales were Amelia, for the third year running, and Oliver, last at #1 in 2010. Steep climbers Ava and Isla both made it to the Top 5 and Oscar and Poppy were in the Top 10 for...

　　By Anna Otto, Waltzing More Than Matilda 　　There’s a lot to be said for having a name that is familiar in many countries. It makes travel and working overseas just that little bit easier, and if you have a particular cultural background, it’s nice to know that relatives in your...

　　By Kelli Brady, Name Freak! 　　I love the autumn season. I MISS the autumn season. Living in Thailand for the past couple of years, I have not experienced fall in all its glory and I miss it. This time of year brings thoughts of the colorful season, and those thoughts...

　　We’re always looking for baby names that are at once wonderful and unusual, and so today’s list compiles 100 great names given to fewer than 100 babies in the US last year.We included names from a range of styles: classic and under-appreciated as well as modern and under-discovered.  Half of...

　　By Abby Sandel, Appellation Mountain 　　Friends of mine are expecting baby #3.  After two nicely-named daughters, the dad told me, “If it’s a boy, we’re pretty set.  But if it’s a girl?  I’ll have to start going through my favorite song titles.” 　　Happily, there’s no shortage of great names for...