About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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  1. Isabella has been in the top 10 for awhile. I don’t know if Twilight has anything to do with it, since it was already a pretty popular name before the books.

    I am surprised Seraphina hasn’t made it to the top 1000. Ever since Ben Affleck, I met two newborns with the name and it seems to be my most popular post at Legitimate Baby Names….so I am really surprised.

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  2. emmy jo, i did see that about cullen and i shuddered, it just sounds violent to my ears and if people really wanted to use twilight as a name guide there are much nicer names in there

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    1. I agree! It makes me think of killing / culling – which is fitting for a vampire, but not for a baby / little boy – and hopefully not a man either!

      Makes me wonder who is naming their child Cullen. I looked it up and one article had this

      “Cullen was the choice of an eerily repetitive 555 couples. They included Brad L. and Michelle M., who live in the Bronx. Ms. M said she read the last book in Ms. Meyer

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  3. fran — Not that I want to harp on Twilight, but did you see that Cullen was the biggest gainer for boys? It jumped 297 places, from 782 to 485.

    Most of my top favorites have stayed reasonably steady. Julius (my son’s name) fell 10 places. And though Clara just broke into the top 200 (which sounds significant), it only gained six places, so it wasn’t much of a leap.

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  4. I’m so excited! Most of my favorite girls’ names (Verity, Beatrix, Bryony) haven’t cracked the top 100, which of course makes me happy. But… were there really THAT many girls named Miley? Or Jayden? Dear God.

    And it’d be interesting to know exactly what percentage of baby girls were named Isabella this year, wouldn’t it?! It’s about twice the number of babies given the #9 name.

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  5. Emma’s reign didnt last long! Isabella was my prediction for the number one name. I have a feeling she’ll be there a while. My name is number 99! DARN! It was 349 in 1995, the year I was born.

    some of my observations:
    Jumps:
    Malia went from 345 to 192 (+153 places)
    Arabella went from 656 to 447 (+209)
    Gemma went from 888 to 568 (+320)
    Brisa went from 791 to 574 (+217)
    Olive from 805 to 588 (+217)
    Briley (cringe) went from 819 to 621 (+198)
    June from 867 to 662 (+205)
    Amelie from 773 to 675 (+98)
    Brynlee from 898 to 676 (+222)
    Matilda from 828 to 762 (+106)
    Mira from 901 to 807 (+94)
    Sloane from 999 to 897 (+102)

    New comers (weren’t there in 2008)
    Millie at 868
    Bristol at 666
    Taraji at 881
    Demi at 883
    Unique at 929 (huh?)
    Eloise at 917
    Rosalie at 840
    Leona at 970
    River at 960 (for a girl)
    Cambria at 993
    Leighton at 669

    some drops:
    Ingrid from 543 to 798 (can’t say i’m surprised. although I like this name. It dropped 255 places)
    Beatrice from 837 to 860 (not that much of a drop, but I thought Beatrix and Beatrice were supposed to become really popular)
    Felicity from 699 to 782 (again, not a big drop, but I expected this to become increasingly popular)

    This isn’t that important, but Rosemary (my favorite) went from 749 in 2008 to 721. All of my top favorites have rose in popularity! 🙁

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  7. Thanks for the heads-up!!!

    Well, I’m not surprised, but Oliver is in the top 100 now… up 20 spots from last year.

    Things that struck me as I perused the list:
    One of the top gainers for girls: Yaretzi – up 119 pts to 478 – never heard it before
    Chloe+Khloe would easily put the name ahead of Abigail in the rankings
    In addition to Isabella thrashing Emma to take #1, Bella is up 64pts to 58

    Boy names that moved big to break into the top 100:
    Levi up 28 to #88
    Oliver up 20 to #98 🙁

    Girl names that moved big to break into the top 100:
    Khloe up 101 to #95
    Bella up 64 to #58
    Serenity up 17 to #94
    Eva up 15 to #99
    Molly up 12 to #92

    Jennifer fell 25 points out of the top 100 for the first time since it entered in 1956 and its lowest point since 1951.

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  8. Elizabeth is out of the top 10?! That’s impressive. And Ethan is number 2?! Knocked Michael down. If Ethan’s so popular, how come we’ve only ever met two others? I’m not concerned. I know my kids’ names are popular. I can’t fight it. I’ll have to be satisfied that they are special in other ways. 😉

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  9. i instantly thought twilight when i saw the top boys and girls names side by side 🙂 but interestingly it appears that esme didn’t enter the top 1000. my girls names are still out of the top 250 but amelie made a significant leap from 773 to 675. also oliver is now within the top 100, oh well i still love it

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