May 12, Wednesday

What's In a Name?

Everything, as anyone who’s stared at baby name lists beginning with Antron and ending with Zelig knows. The first worry? What’s the meanest permutation some little horror in the schoolyard could possibly come up with? What’s Grandpa going to think if you don’t go with Thurston IV? Will Montana sound as cool circa 2034?

No matter how you slice it, your kid is stuck with the tag you invent for the rest of his life—a good reason to rethink that urge to name him after genius jazz pianists or troubled philosophers, no matter how brilliant. You may be one of those people who’s had names picked out since you were nine -- Skipper if it’s a girl, Keith if it’s a boy. Or, you may have a thing for celebrity names. (In which case, you are well aware that Marcia Gay Harden’s new twins are called Hudson Harden Scheel and Julitta (Ju-LEE-tah) Dee Harden Scheel; and that Roman seems to be the son-of-a-movie-star name-du-jour.)

Either way, we might suggest taking a look at the Social Security Most Popular Names for 2003. It just came out, and it’s pretty fun reading. Not only can you see the top 10 – 50 – 1000 names, you can search to see how the name you pick has ranked over the years and search the popularity of top 10 names all the way back to 1880, by decade. Did anyone else name his kid Moon Unit in the 70’s?

More to the point, has anyone used the moniker since? We think it beats Ashley by a long shot.

View the Social Security list of Most Popular Baby Names for 2003 online at socialsecurity.gov.