Walk into any elementary classroom across the United States this year and chances are you will find a little girl named Emily. Or Emma. For the past four years these two names have been the most popular for baby girls in the U.S., according to the Social Security Administration. Emily has been number one since 1996 and in the top 10 since 1991."Don't use it unless you want your child to be named Emily B (or whatever your last initial is) all her life," says an anonymous user on behindthename.com. Although many visitors said it was overused, 77 percent of visitors to the site said it was a good name with a majority of users classifying it as feminine, classic, youthful, wholesome and refined.The name, which comes from the latin word, aemiliu, which means "rival", eventually changed to Emilia and finally, Emily. The meaning also evolved to the present-day excel or hardworking. Although many people believe "Emma" is simply a form of the number one name, it actually comes from the Germanic word, "emen" which means "whole" or "universal."The number two name for girls since 2003, Emma has been around since at least 1900 and always in the top 150. Oddly enough, from 1900 to 1909 it was popular as a boys' name, although 93 percent of today's visitors to behindthename.com ranked it as feminine. They also found it classic, wholesome and simple.Some parents said they chose the name because of the title character in one of Jane Austen's novels while others admitted they were fond of 1960s television Avenger Emma Peel.Laura Winkler thinks it's a beautiful name for a little girl that will also grow well with her. "My father-in-law had an absolute fit that we would call her "an old lady's name," she said. "It is no longer just an 'old lady's name', but the name for a rising generation," she added.
The third most popular name for girls is another one that was originally reserved for boys: Madison. The popular British surname means "child of Maud," the anglicized Norman form of Mathilda, which means "powerful in battle" and has been around since the Middle Ages. According to the Social Security Administration, the name "Madison" was practically non-existent, especially for girls, until 1985 when it showed up as number 538. It rose to number 203 in 1990 and steadily climbed up the charts until it reached number three in 2000. The highest it reached was number two in 2001 and 2002 and it has held onto the number three slot ever since. So what happened in the early 1980s to make the name suddenly appear and become so popular? Remember the movie Splash with Daryl Hannah playing a mermaid? When her love interest, played by Tom Hanks, asks her name, she responds with an unpronounceable screech. Realizing she has to find something more suitable, the mermaid looks up and sees the sign for Madison Avenue and claims it for her own. "But Madison isn't a name," Hanks responds. However, many Americans proved him wrong when they used it for their own baby girls the next year.One of the most controversial names at behindthename.com, only 47 percent of respondents said Madison was a good name for a girl. They were nearly evenly split on masculine vs. feminine, while 72 percent said it was modern and youthful. Perhaps with the picture of the sexy blonde mermaid in mind, 64 percent said it was not an intellectual name.Most of those commenting on the name were either praising it for its strength or bashing it for being too masculine for girls. "I'm quite fond of my name, regardless of its 'masculine' connotations," said user Madison Leigh "I always felt very empowered by it, and think that people who think girls should only have 'feminine' names should be smacked upside the head. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving your child a strong name." If you're looking for a classic name that has become popular with celebrities, the number four name, Isabella, is a good choice. Matt Damon and Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman chose the name, which is the southwest European version of Elizabeth, for their daughters. One of the few female names in the top 10 that came from the Bible, it derives from the Hebrew name Elisheva, which means "God is my oath" and was the name of John the Baptist's mother. In addition to the many queens named Isabella (or a close variant, such as Isabelle), the name conjures visions of Isabel Archer, in Henry James' novel "The Portrait of a Lady" and Isabella in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure." For those more interested in today's associations, think Isabella Turk on Scrubs, Isabel, a member of the Others in Lost, Isabel Lahiri in Ocean's Twelve or even the major 2003 hurricane named Isabelle. The next name on our list, Ava, is another popular name for celebrity babies. Reese Witherspoon, Martina McBride, Tom DeLonge from Blink-182 and Heather Locklear all have daughters named Ava. And television writers like it as well. You can find Avas on Nip/Tuck and Grey's Anatomy as well as soap operas Guiding Light and All My Children.While some etymologists claim the name comes from the Latin word for "bird," (think aviary), others maintain it has English/Scottish/Welsh roots and means, "bearer of good news." Another possibility is that it's a variant of "Eve," the wife of the biblical Adam. Still others assert the name comes from a group of Germanic names beginning with an element of "avi" which may mean "desired." A beautiful name that stands the test of time, 99 percent of the raters at behindthename.com described it as feminine. A majority also found it to be wholesome, delicate, refined and serious.The second biblical name and number seven on our list, Abigail comes from the Hebrew "Avigayil" meaning "a father's joy." Found in the books of Samuel and Chronicles, Abigail was the wife of Nabal who became one of the wives of king David after her first husband's sudden death. Since Abigail described herself as a handmaid when she first met David, the name has come to be associated with waiting women. In Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" the housekeeper is named Abigail. The name was very popular in the eighteenth century among working class people. Since many Abigails grew up to be servants, their employers took to using the term, "my Abigail" when referring to the hired help. This led to a decline in popularity of the name, which doesn't register in the top 1000 of the social security charts until 1950, when it was number 738. It gained by about 50 percent every year until 1990 when it broke the top 100. After that it moved up slowly until the year 2000 when it was number 14. It moved up one or two positions every year until 2005 when it hit number four.The number eight most popular name, Hannah, has different meanings in many languages. In Hebrew, it means, "She who is blessed by God"; in Persian, "colorful" and in Egyptian "happiness." It is a popular girls name in Japan (spelled Hana) meaning "flower" and in Chinese it means "clever and praiseworthy."The name, which is "Anna" in Latin, has been on the social security chart every year since 1900, but it was the least popular in the 1960s. It broke into the top 100 in the 1980s and was number seven in 1995. In the year 2000, it reached number two and has been falling every since. In 2006 it was number eight.When you hear the name, Olivia, do you think of Olives? That's one reason why many visitors to behindthename.com didn't like the name. However, most people perceived the name as classic, formal, upper class, wholesome, delicate and serious.Girls named Olivia join ranks with classic actresses like Olivia DeHavilland, who played Melanie in Gone With The Wind, and the exquisite Olivia Hussey, who played both Juliet in the timeless Franco Zefferelli version of Shakespeare's play and Mary in the lush Jesus of Nazareth. You can find Olivias on television in Law and Order SVU and reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Waltons, whose mother shortened her name to "Livvy." She is also a loveable pig in a series of popular children's books. While the name may have been derived from the Latin word for olive tree, which is a symbol of peace, it was coined by Shakespeare for the rich heiress wooed by the duke in Twelfth Night. Mildly popular on the social security administration's charts since 1900, it moved up quickly in the 1980s to break into the top 100 in 1990 where it was 72. The named stayed in the twenty most popular names ever since, hitting number 10 in 2001 and number four in 2003, until it started a slow descent to the present day number nine.The next name on our list, coming from the Greek word for wisdom, Sophia, can also be spelled "Sofia," which is the capital of Bulgaria. While it has also been on the social security administration's list of top 1000 popular names, it began to rise in the 1960s until it moved up steadily to number nine in 2006. The French version of the name, Sophie, was given to the female protagonist in the novel "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. In addition, "Sofia" is a "word of wisdom" that enables the novel's Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon to open the first cryptex made by Sophie's grandfather.The last name on our list is relatively new, arising at the end of the 18th century and not even on the chart of Social Security popular names until 1960. Perhaps that can be explained by a popular television show of that era, Bewitched, with the charming Samantha Stevens.The number 10 name is a feminine form of the Hebrew, Samuel, meaning "told by God." It also has beautiful connotations in many other languages. For example, the Arabic "Sama," means "listen or hear" and "Sammaat" means "the power to hear" in Urdu."I liked this name for my first daughter because I wanted a name that would not only sound like a cutsy little girl but would also be a good name for a woman," says behindthename.com user Aleesha. "It's a mature, beautiful name."
By Karyn Campbell
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