This Grandma loves when the U.S. Social Security Administration annually announces the most popular baby names of the year. 2014 is no different. The number one boys’ name is a name that I know was far from number 1 eight years ago when one close chose it because it was not popular. That is what happens with baby name choices. Some parents-to-be want a family name, some want a popular name, some want an unusual name, and look for names with an intention for their selection. Others just go through lists. It was definitely easier to go through lists before the internet.
Now the choice of baby name websites is endless. Whatever the choice, soon, it seems, the parents-to-be find out that the chosen name is now one of the most popular. I have never figured out how that happens.
On the Social Security Administration website, you can look up so much information. You can look up popular names by birth year. My birth year, I would have guessed that Susan, Debbie, and Linda were the top three names as in every class every school year there were at least three people with each. However, in my birth year, surprisingly Debbie does not appear in the top ten, Linda is number two and Susan is number eight.
Additionally, on the Social Security Administration website, you can look up change in popularity of baby names, popular names by decade, by state, in U.S. territories, top 5 names over the last 100 years, and background Information. If you know anyone expecting and choosing baby names, I would recommend their search begin on this government website first! If you are curious about your children’s and grandchildren’s name, this website has a wealth of information.
The newest most popular baby names list has a lot of repeat top names. In 2014, the most popular names are:
Rank Male name Female name 1 Noah Emma 2 Liam Olivia 3 Mason Sophia 4 Jacob Isabella 5 William Ava 6 Ethan Mia 7 Michael Emily 8 Alexander Abigail 9 James Madison 10 Daniel Charlotte
The new British princess is Charlotte, although these names are United States popular. Most of the time a name appears on the list there is some relationship to something in the movies or on television or an actor, such as Emma Watson playing Hermoine in the popular Harry Potter movies, eight from 2001 to 2011. Emma has been one of the top baby girl names since 2003. It was number one in 2008.
The most fun, however, for a grandma with long years is to play on Social Security Administration website, which is easy to navigate. Starting with the oldest grandchild, I explored the history of his name in the U.S., which exploded into the top ten in 1979 and remained there until 2010!
Here is the advice part of this Grandma’s post.
Of course, this website and the baby name websites are most relevant to the parents-to-be, rather than to grandparents. And we must remember our role and our place in the multi-generational family. Yes, we can remind the child that is yours in the partnership alone of the family traditions or religious traditions that the child and his partner may choose to follow.
We are about to enter into the world of having the first real responsibility to our future grandchild–to support the relationship of the parents-to-be as the best interests of the child. We must not interfere or comment negatively, even about their exploration of names.
Remember when we used to discipline children, we always praised the good behavior and ignored the bad behavior? It is the same with names, praising the potential names we like and ignoring the potential names we don’t like. . . .or at the most, saying, “that is an interesting name.” We do not want to cause dissension in the relationship of the parents-to-be by being interfering in-laws. If we want the parents-to-be to continue to discuss things with us, we have to be supportive of their partnership.
The next thing to remember is that the parents of our grandchildren are the gatekeepers to our grandchildren. The parents choose their child’s name and it is our place to just love any name they choose. In the beginning, we may like the name or not, but other than expressing love of the name, it is better that we do not comment. In the end, we will love the chosen name but do not know it yet. We will love the name because it belongs to the most precious grandchild and we love the grandchild. Making sure we are always welcome to spend time with the grandchildren is
Joy,
Mema
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