Community Corner

Ryan and Isabella Top the List of Most Popular Baby Names in Mass.

The Bay State mirrors the rest of America for girls, but the top boy name nationally is Jacob.

Kindergarten teachers in Massachusetts will be welcoming a lot of Ryans and Isabelles in five years time. Those names topped the list of baby names in 2010, according to the data released recently by the Social Security Administration (SAA).

Bay State parents who had boys had a different mindset from moms and dads nationwide. The top boy's name in America was Jacob, while Ryan did not even make the top 10, nationally. Neither did Benjamin, the second most popular name for boys in Massachusetts.

Parents who welcomed little girls, however, almost mirrored the rest of the country, almost exactly. The top five names were the same, just in a different order. Emma and Olivia, both top five in Mass. and the U.S., have been popular for years. They make it in the top five for the first decade of the 21st century. The top two names for the decade, however, were Emily and Madison (neither of which cracked the top five this year).

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Across the country, Jacob has been a popular boys name for the whole 2000s, ranking No. 1 over the past decade. Michael also had many takers, while new popular names this year were Jayden and Ethan.

Matthew made the top five nationally for the last 10 years, but not this year. This baby Matthew, however, might count as two – the California kid weighed in at 14 lbs. at birth!

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The top five names in Massachusetts, with the number according to SSA data, were:

1 Ryan 446 Isabella 496 2 Benjamin 438 Sophia 492 3 William 433 Olivia 445 4 Jacob 428 Ava 390 5 Michael 405 Emma 380

Nationally, these were the top five most popular names:

1 Jacob Isabella 2 Ethan Sophia 3 Michael Emma 4 Jayden Olivia 5 William Ava

For the first decade of the 21st Century the five most popular names in the U.S.,with the total number according to the SSA, were:

1 Jacob 273,309 Emily 223,420 2 Michael 250,031 Madison 192,914 3 Joshua 231,482 Emma 180,976 4 Matthew 221,163 Olivia 155,795 5 Daniel 203,294 Hannah 155,463

Did you have a baby recently? What did you name your child? Send us a photo of your baby, (with the name, of course) and we will post it with this article.


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