Bethany Brings Us Top Five Names of the Aughts

by Ernie on 21/12/09 at 11:53 am

Many of these names have been around for awhile, but there’s a certain specificity of these names to this past decade. (Names drawn from Social Security Administration name list, here.)

Girls:

5. Trinity (inspired by 1999’s The Matrix?)

4. Destiny (#59 on list; inspired by Destiny’s Child? debut album released 1998)

3. Aaliyah (#94 on list; inspired by the singer/actress who died in 2001?)

2. Nevaeh (#97 “Heaven” spelled backwards. Probably exploded in popularity following the choice by singer Sonny Sandoval of the group P.O.D. to give his daughter this name in 2000. More girls were named Nevaeh in the 2000 than were named Amy, Melissa, Molly, Katie, or Diana, for example).

1. Brooklyn (#98. Inspired by David and Victoria Beckham’s choice to name their son this in 1999?)

Extra: Reagan (why?)

Boys:

5. Barack (not on list yet, but it’s too soon. Word of mouth says it’s getting to be popular)

4. Obama (ditto)

3. Ashton (#126 named after Ashton Kutcher of That ’70s show and being Mr. Demi Moore?)

2. Chandler (#274 named after Chandler Bing of Friends?)

1. Zion (#286 from The Matrix movies?)

* Note: male names typically display less change and less variation than female names at this particular time in this particular culture, so there’s not as much to be seen here of trendiness, besides the whole Jaden/Caden/Aiden/Braiden theme.

Extra: the demographic shift this country is undergoing can be seen in the increasing popularity in the US of Spanish names: Jose (#30), Juan (#56), Luis (#57), Alejandro (#97), Carlos (#68), Jesus (#71), Diego (#76), and Miguel (#94)