March Madness 2014: Welcome

Welcome to March Madness 2014!

Long-time readers will recognize this annual tradition.  Instead of bracketing our favorite college basketball teams, we’re voting on our favorite baby names.

The names represent the posts most-viewed at Appellation Mountain during the calendar year 2013.  This means that they’re an eclectic bunch – first, I have to have written about the name, and many of the US Top Ten have never made an appearance here.

Instead, we’ll see some unusual choices face off against each other.  The voting tends to favor the more mainstream.

Past winners are as follows:

• Last year, Isla and Archer won the titles.
• In 2012, the victory went to Arthur and Genevieve.
• Louisa and Nathaniel carried the day in 2011.

Voting opens early on Saturday, March 1st with the sixteen most popular boys’ names facing off.  The girls’ opening round follows around mid-day.  Voting remains open for the first round through the morning of Friday, March 7th.

Subsequent rounds follow every Saturday, until the winners are announced on Saturday, March 29th.

Looking forward to seeing your favorites – and crowning a new champion for 2014!