The Social Security Administration, which keeps track of baby names in the United States, just released the list of the most popular names in 2009. Jacob tops the list for baby boys, Isabella for girls. You can also find the most popular names for every year going back to 1880, and track the popularity of a name over time at the Social Security baby name Web site.
Herman, for example, was the 48th most popular name for boys in 1880, but by 2000 it had dropped out of the top 1,000 male names. Among girls, Gertrude was ranked 25th in 1880, but after 1965 it no longer made the top 1,000.
You can also see which names changed the most in popularity from 2008 to 2009 (Cullen, Jax, and King made big jumps in popularity for boys, while Maliyah, Isla, and Caylee gained the most ground for girls).
You can see the top 5 names over the last 100 years, popular names for twins, popular names by state, and more fun facts.
