# Top Baby Names for 2011 released **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042 "2012-05-16T00:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Orca\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Orca\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orca_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/21 "2012-05-16T22:21:56Z")
Luckily my name isn’t in the top 1000. Then again, I’m not American (I’m Australian), and no one in my family even has names like many of the ones on the charts. I’m a Muslim of Lebanese background, and all my relatives have Arabic-sounding names. (My own name is Zaki.) But I did fine out on Name Nerds that in 2010, 50 American boys got my name. I assume that most of them were Muslim. And 52 boys that year were named Cutter.😕 Name Nerds: [Name Nerds!](http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/pop/2010/2010xy1.html) - boys [Name Nerds!](http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/pop/2010/2010xx01.html) - girls ---
**Author:** ![Craz3d117](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c4cdca/32.png) [@Craz3d117](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craz3d117)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/22 "2012-05-16T23:29:50Z")
Those are some pretty strange boys names, Mason in particular. Never heard that as a first name. I find Noah, Jayden and Aiden to be some pretty weak names also. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/23 "2012-05-16T23:32:43Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Jacob has been very popular for a long time – over a decade. It doesn’t have anything to do with _Twilight._ It does now. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/24 "2012-05-16T23:34:20Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Too late for the edit: just noticed those aren’t official lists, but the official ones for 2010 aren’t [that different](http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jul/28/top-100-baby-names-oliver-olivia)… What’s strange is that names 2-5 for boys are nicknames and the full names that I’d associate with them are way farther down on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/25 "2012-05-16T23:52:32Z")
> [@Craz3d117](#): > > Those are some pretty strange boys names, Mason in particular. Never heard that as a first name. I find Noah, Jayden and Aiden to be some pretty weak names also. I think Mason is the name of a Kardashian child, and Jayden is the name of one of Britney Spears’ children. The newscaster seemed to think that explained their popularity. It would make me run from the names, however. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/26 "2012-05-17T00:03:02Z")
I’ve noticed for a while now that, for whatever reason, moms of the last few years have gone totally nuts for names with the -aiden/-ayden ending (Aiden, Jayden, Brayden, Kaden, and I’m sure there are others that I’m not thinking of right now). I’m not sure if there was any particular precipitating event for this particular name trend beyond the whole “I better give my kid an unusual name so people know we’re special and unique” trend. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/27 "2012-05-17T00:13:46Z")
> [@Orca\_Eyes](#): > > Luckily my name isn’t in the top 1000. > > Then again, I’m not American (I’m Australian), and no one in my family even has names like many of the ones on the charts. I’m a Muslim of Lebanese background, and all my relatives have Arabic-sounding names. (My own name is Zaki.) > > But I did fine out on Name Nerds that in 2010, 50 American boys got my name. I assume that most of them were Muslim. And 52 boys that year were named Cutter.😕 Cutter is horrible. Sounds like an emo. Also I noticed that Fisher is in the top 1000 names. Sounds like a…fisher. Zaki is a great name. I considered that for my 12 year old before I knew she was a girl. I’m not Muslim but I just like unusual names, and Z names. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/28 "2012-05-17T00:42:46Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Where did the name “Jayden” come from? When I was young, I remember a lot of Americans were naming their kids Corey. Presumably there’s a bunch of adult Coreys out there right now. Well, in my end of the world, it was names like Jayden, Jordan, and Tegan. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/29 "2012-05-17T00:52:52Z")
Very good. None of my kids names are on the list. Awesome! My kids are Nathaniel, Thomas, Miriam, and Elizabeth. Nathaniel is distressingly trendy around here. We named him for an obscure book character, but we’ve met eight Nathaniels under five. Bother. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/30 "2012-05-17T01:11:48Z")
> [@Lissla\_Lissar](#): > > Very good. None of my kids names are on the list. Awesome! > > My kids are Nathaniel, Thomas, Miriam, and Elizabeth. Nathaniel is distressingly trendy around here. We named him for an obscure book character, but we’ve met eight Nathaniels under five. Bother. I like your kid’s names. Nathaniel was my choice in boy’s names. My grandfather was a Nathan but I like longer form better. We have two girls so we never got to use it. On my block we have an Emily, Rachel, Teagan, Annabelle, Charlotte, Samantha, Caitlyn, Jessica, Sarah, Lily, Elena, Ava, Julia and Anna for girls under ten. The boys are Dmitri, Alex, Mark, William, Thomas, Brian, Liam, David, Daniel and Jake. I’m surprised Alyssa isn’t in the top ten. We have two of them on our block. ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/31 "2012-05-17T01:26:23Z")
The page for twin names (from the OP’s link) is HORRIBLE. What is wrong with people? Mia and Mya? Heaven and Nevaeh? Puke puke puke. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/32 "2012-05-17T01:31:50Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I think Mason is the name of a Kardashian child, and Jayden is the name of one of Britney Spears’ children. The newscaster seemed to think that explained their popularity. > > It would make me run from the names, however. I have a theory I’d like some critique on. I posit that less educated or more media-influenced parents can appreciate what a lot of self-consciously upscale folk cannot: that _identity in a consumerist society is really no more than a kind of **brand**._ All of us are limited to thinking inside that paradigm, even if we try to construct an identity outside it. That identity will be no more than an attempt at a “no-brand” that only makes sense _as_ a brand. Name your child James or Elizabeth and all you’re doing is branding them as the type who will grow up to watch public TV, drive a Volvo and pay too much for coffee. Even religiously inspired names like Noah or Jacob are essentially about a religious kind of branding. (It says something that more boys are named for Bible figures than girls. Very few of those Elizabeths are named for the wife of Zachariah, although with trends in parenting and fertilility as they are, more than a few will probably give birth at a great age as she did.) At least parents who name their kids for heavily promoted public figures are honest (by which I mean unironic) about branding as the center and meaning of individual identity. Discuss? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/33 "2012-05-17T01:32:59Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I’ve noticed for a while now that, for whatever reason, moms of the last few years have gone totally nuts for names with the -aiden/-ayden ending (Aiden, Jayden, Brayden, Kaden, and I’m sure there are others that I’m not thinking of right now). I’m not sure if there was any particular precipitating event for this particular name trend beyond the whole “I better give my kid an unusual name so people know we’re special and unique” trend. Can I be honest? I fucking hate the -ayden names. Jayden I suppose is tolerable, but there’s Brayden, Caden, Hayden (ok), and Kayden. I always see these names plastered on the back of a ridiculously sized SUV with a soccer ball, or cheerleading megaphone. It just screams to me suburbia cookie-cutter soccer mom. Ick. I suppose it will be different when Dr. Brayden Takanishi cures cancer, or Senator Kayden Owens-Garcia becomes majority whip. Until then, I hold these parents in contempt, only superceded by the Nevaeh-namers of the world. If Nevaeh is so popular, how come Legna hasn’t taken off? ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/34 "2012-05-17T01:40:06Z")
My daughter’s name (Josephine) is creeping up the charts. It was 201 three years ago when we named her, and 182 now. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/35 "2012-05-17T02:16:49Z")
> [@Lissla\_Lissar](#): > > Very good. None of my kids names are on the list. Awesome! > > My kids are Nathaniel, Thomas, Miriam, and Elizabeth. Nathaniel is distressingly trendy around here. We named him for an obscure book character, but we’ve met eight Nathaniels under five. Bother. Thomas was sixth in my state last year (I added one to that tally!) and third the year before. My Thomas will spend his whole school life answering to Tom O. To be fair, this being Australia, he probably would have been called Thommo anyway. Nathaniel isn’t in our top 100. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/36 "2012-05-17T02:57:59Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > My daughter’s name (Josephine) is creeping up the charts. It was 201 three years ago when we named her, and 182 now. My eldest read \*\*Little Woman \*\*and then watched the movie with Winona Ryder. She’s decided her own daughter will one day be named Josephine. 😃 I love that name but I’m surprised it ranked that highly. Perhaps the Duggars (who have a Josie Brooklyn) were an influence? Louisa was another favorite but my husband deemed it hopelessly old fashioned so I agreed to veto it. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/37 "2012-05-17T03:39:23Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > At least parents who name their kids for heavily promoted public figures are honest (by which I mean unironic) about branding as the center and meaning of individual identity. > > Discuss? Do you feel the same about children named for relatives? My daughter was named for a couple of great-grandmothers, great-aunts, and cousins. Yes, they all had the same name! There wasn’t much diversity on either side of my family tree in the late 1800s early 1900s, I’m afraid. Of course the minute I chose it, millions of others did too, but oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/38 "2012-05-17T03:48:09Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Can I be honest? I fucking hate the -ayden names. Jayden I suppose is tolerable, but there’s Brayden, Caden, Hayden (ok), and Kayden. I always see these names plastered on the back of a ridiculously sized SUV with a soccer ball, or cheerleading megaphone. It just screams to me suburbia cookie-cutter soccer mom. Ick. > > I suppose it will be different when Dr. Brayden Takanishi cures cancer, or Senator Kayden Owens-Garcia becomes majority whip. Until then, I hold these parents in contempt, only superceded by the Nevaeh-namers of the world. > If Nevaeh is so popular, how come Legna hasn’t taken off? On the whole -ayden thing… How come you never hear Zayden?! It’s the next big name. You heard it here first! ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/39 "2012-05-17T12:40:41Z")
Elizabeth’s a family name. Her twin is named Miriam. We don’t drive a Volvo or drink coffee, so we’ve probably dodged the pretentious-name-determines-destiny bullet. If we had another boy I’d like Sebastian, for Bastian Balthazar Bux in _The NEverending Story_, and Sebastian in _Brideshead Revisited_. What our choice of names actually says about us is that we read too much. 😃 Heaven and Nevaeh, really? My niece and nephew have a cousin named Brayden. Dumb name. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042/40 "2012-05-17T15:59:01Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > At least parents who name their kids for heavily promoted public figures are honest (by which I mean unironic) about branding as the center and meaning of individual identity. > > Discuss? My impression of this is that the public figures are PART of the trend, not starting the trend. (I think this is the take of the authors of _Freakonomics_.) Even though it seems like there are more Britneys (with spelling variations) since Britney Spears’s rise to popularity, she was part of the bubble of Britneys herself. My daughter’s name (Lucy) took another little creep up. We had tried to settle on a name that was familiar but not very popular, and Lucy seemed to fit the bill. Then it took a HUGE jump up between the time we picked the name and when she was born (or rather, the data for the previous year was released during that time) and we were already quite settled on it … plus the process of agreeing on a name had been challenging and it felt very daunting to embark upon it again. Still, now I feel doomed to annually check the charts and be annoyed by its progress. But even with all that, I realize that I am part of the trend that makes a name rise in popularity … even though I’m on the front of the curve, it’s still a curve. I can’t really complain, because I am one of the people represented in the growth numbers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-baby-names-for-2011-released/622042.md?page=3)