2014 Most Popular Baby Names

So Christmas for us baby name fanatics just arrived, and in case you're new to this scene, it means that the new SSA ranking with the most popular names of last year has just been released. Its usually followed by a short period of excitement where you examine every little detail of the top 1000 and beyond, and then you fall into a sort of post partum depression where the excitement is gone, before the anticipation starts to build up again usually at the start of the year.

But enough about my mood cycles when it comes to baby names, here is the newest top 10 for both genders:

BOYS

01 Noah
02 Liam
03 Mason
04 Jacob
05 William
06 Ethan
07 Michael
08 Alexander
09 James
10 Daniel

GIRLS

01 Emma
02 Olivia
03 Sophia
04 Isabella
05 Ava
06 Mia
07 Emily
08 Abigail
09 Madison
10 Charlotte

Wow that boys top 10 looks like my kind of hell haha. Everyone is excited that James reentered the top10 knocking of Jayden, but I'm not. As overused as Jayden is, its only a fraction compared to James (the most overused name of all time). Instead we have James and Daniel blocking off Elijah (fresh blood) from getting inside the top10. I swear that top10 needs a big wash. Noah stayed at the top which definitely surprised me, I thought Liam was surely going to get there.
For girls, the sole entry was Charlotte, knocking off Elizabeth. This one I'm happy about since Charlotte has never ever made the top10 before. Now with the new royal princess being named Charlotte, I can see this one going all the way in a few years. Emma replaced Sophia, which I did say could happen last year since Sofia is stealing some of Sophia's power. I think Emma will stay there or be overtaken by Olivia next year.

Elsewhere on the chart, some surprises were that a few really trendy names of recent years stalled in 2014: Camden, Jayceon, Jace, Miles, etc. I just wasn't expecting that. I guess in Jace's case, Duck Dynasty is losing its audience fast so that may explain part of it - however the CW is doing a show with a protagonist named Jace this fall, so don't count on it plummeting just yet. Unlike these stallers, hispanic names put a stop to their crash falling and Angel, Luis, Jose and Juan held onto their positions or climbed back up. I do hope Luis and Juan fall off next year to make way for more fresher alternatives like Mateo.

New entries to the top100 included Ryder, Leo and Asher for boys, and Eleanor, Alice, Vivian, Isabelle and Hadley for girls. I'm not really shocked to see any of them in the top100, they were actually in my predictions. We'll see if this time Ryder will last longer than a year in the top100. Probably. Cora just missed out for girls, I think next year is a certain.

Lower down the charts, we had several stunners. Aranza, Montserrat and Monserrat seemingly came out of nowhere to become this years top trenders. Then we learned that they were used in a spanish soap opera, and we all are aware of how those affect baby names. I think I have to start checking those soaps out when I do my predictions every year. I'm not gonna do a post on them because usually these names trend for a year and then freefall down the charts once the telenovela is over. For boys, it was all about the "bo" sound, with Bode, Bodie, Bodhi, Beau and Boden all making an impression. Can't say i'm pleased at all with Bode being the trendiest one, I'd hate to see it eclipse Bodhi - plus I've seen plenty of people say "boad" and "body" with the Bode spelling, so there will surely be some pronunciation some issues when it pops up.

Definitely not pleased with some of the (overused) classics reclimbing, such as John and Charles. Even the traditional UK got rid of them sooner. I guess because I see no appeal in them whatsoever, so it just baffles me. Again I'm sticking with my theory that they are family names, dads still seem to impose their first names on their sons, one of my biggest pet peeves - and it's not speculation. I see several birth announcements every day and most of these (overused) classics are indeed the names of the boys's fathers.

Harper and Skylar are definitely going girlier you guys. They are climbing for the pink team, falling for the blue one. I'm sad because I really root for Skylar on boys, I guess because I'm a male Skye so I almost consider myself part of that "team" of boys with that name. On the other hand, Avery is still climbing for boys which is fabulous, and several others are climbing for both genders such as Remington, Remy, Emery, Parker, Sawyer, Finley, Oakley, River or Logan. Shockingly the names Quinn, Reese and Kendall are falling for both genders - for boys I'm not surprised, but I am for girls. I thought Kendall would get a boost since Kendall Jenner was everywhere last year, but maybe people are turned off by her? I don't believe that one bit. Wouldn't be surprised to see it zoom into the top100 next year.

So those are my quick thoughts on the top 1000. Displeased with some of the stuff going on the top100, but I'm quite pleased with what's going on lower down, unlike last year, several of my favorites climbed or debuted. Hopefully it won't be a one off. What are your thoughts on the new rankings?