700 Posts and 20 Baby Names

According to the counter on my Blogspot dashboard, this is my 700th post. I suppose I should celebrate somehow...Hmmm...fireworks are all sold out now that the 4th of July is over, and the cost of jet fuel makes it too expensive to hire the Air Force to do a thunderous flyover of the house. I could hire a brass band. But I think I'll just treat myself to a very large gin and tonic with extra lime tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me from the early days when I had two or three hits a week...and those were from Agnes...and then only when I shamed her into reading it. I hope you'll stick with me for the next 700 posts, and encourage your friends to visit, too.

But enough self-congratulatory backpatting - on to today's comment.

If you're a parent, one of the first crises you experience with your child is selecting a name. This is not always an easy thing, being wrapped up in family politics (your in-laws and your parents will lobby hard for their favorite names, often based on their own monikers or the name of some obscure but supposedly-honorable ancestor) and the naming fashion of the moment. But help is available!

There are lots of books of baby names, and there are even websites which will help you select the "ideal" name for your child: the Baby Name Genie, the Baby Name Generator, and The Name Voyager, just to name a few. But there's also a useful list of the 10 most popular names, compiled each year by the US Social Security Administration, and culled from the hundreds of thousands of applications for Social Security numbers received each year.

According to the latest list from the SSA, the most popular names for boys and girls for 2007 were:

1. Jacob and Emily
2. Michael and Isabella
3. Ethan and Emma
4. Joshua and Ava
5. Daniel and Madison
6. Christopher and Sophia
7. Anthony and Olivia
8. William and Abigail
9. Matthew and Hannah
10. Andrew and Elizabeth

By contrast, the top 10 list for 1950 was:

1. James and Linda
2. Robert and Mary
3. John and Patricia
4. Michael and Barbara
5. David and Susan
6. William and Nancy
7. Richard and Deborah
8. Thomas and Sandra
9. Charles and Carol
10. Gary and Kathleen

The 1950's saw pretty traditional names, whereas the 2007 list includes some more unusual names, such as Madison for a girl (possibly owing its popularity to Darryl Hannah's mermaid character in the movie Splash) and Biblical references like Jacob and Joshua for boys.

Names aren't a trivial thing...a child's name will follow him or her through life and can be a source of pride or shame. I've written here before about the hideous names inflicted by some celebrities on their children (Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa come to mind, along with Sting's daughter Fuchsia). Many Chinese select a western-style name to go along with their given names. Converts to Islam often opt to take Arabic names, and many blacks choose distinctive names (think of the many names for girls beginning with the syllable "La" - LaToya Jackson, for example) or variations on traditional names (such as "Antwan" instead of "Antoine").

Short names can be useful. I remember years ago hearing of a gentleman named Roy Ash, a government official who said he had a perfect name for a public servant because it was short, easy to remember, and when cited in newspaper headlines, left "plenty of room for pejorative castigation."

I think I'll stick with Bilbo. It may not be the one I was born with, but as screen names go it's not bad. And it may help you remember to come back for the next 700 posts.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo