The day every baby name addict waits for all year is finally here, as the Social Security Administration released its list of Top 1000 Boy and Girl Names this morning. To many people’s surprise–including a sizable number of our contest entrants–Emma leapfrogged over Isabella–last year’s #2– to become the most popular girls’ name in the country for the first time. She won by a very narrow margin though–there were 18,587 baby Emmas born, and 18,377 Isabellas. The boys list saw very little change, in fact the top five names–Jacob, Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel–were identical to last years.

We will be studying and analyzing the lists over the next days and weeks, but here are a few initial observations:

Chloe entered the Top 10 for the first time, displacing Hannah (as in Montana), which dropped from #9 to #15. On the other hand the name of the real Hannah Montana, Miley (a nickname invented by dad Billy Ray Cyrus) jumped 151 places. Some other girls’ names substantially on the rise: Aubrey, Brooklyn, Layla, Peyton and Payton, Genesis, Bella, Hayden, Marley, London, Piper, Lila, and the K-krazy-Kardarshian-influenced Khloe.

As for the boys, if both the Aiden and Aidan spellings were added together, that would have been the Number One name, topping Jacob. In addition, Jayden rose to just outside the Top Ten, and others on the upswing include Elijah and Eli, Brayden, Carter, Chase, Brody, Liam, Hayden (for both sexes), Colton, Levi, Oliver, Jonah, Miles, and Hudson.

You can access the entire list of 2,000 names on the Social Security site. An interesting feature they’ve added this year is the greatest changes in popularity from 2007 to 2008. (Highest for girls are Khloe, Marlee and Marely (!), and for boys, Jacoby, Kane and Beckett.)

CONTEST: We will be going through the entries over the weekend and announcing the winner on Monday.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and to baby name fanatics that means one thing beyond cards and flowers: that the release date of the latest figures from the Social Security Administration is only a few weeks away. We’ll soon know whether or not Emily and Jacob have finally been overtaken for first place and which names have made the biggest leaps and suffered the greatest drops. Will some of the Classic Boys be replaced by newer choices? Who will win the Ava-Isabella-Olivia-Sophia race?

Nameberry’s First Mother’s Day Contest wants to know what you think. Send your rankings for the Top Ten Girls and Top Ten Boys to contest@nameberry.com, and the first person to get it right will be rewarded with a quartet of personally signed book prizes, including an advance copy of our newest, not-yet-published BEYOND AVA & AIDEN.

Just to remind you of last year’s top names:

1. EMILY………..JACOB
2. ISABELLA…… MICHAEL
3. EMMA………. ETHAN
4. AVA…………. JOSHUA
5. MADISON…… DANIEL
6. SOPHIA……… CHRISTOPHER
7. OLIVIA……….ANTHONY
8. ABIGAIL………WILLIAM
9. HANNAH……..MATTHEW
10. ELIZABETH…. ANDREW

THE PRIZES

First and foremost, the winner will get the very first look–six weeks ahead of publication–of BEYOND AVA & AIDEN: THE ENLIGHTENED GUIDE TO NAMING YOUR BABY, with our latest assessments of what’s hot, what’s cool, and what’s new for the coming years, with all-new, up-to-date lists and trends, personally signed by both Pam and Linda.

In addition, you will receive autographed editions of three of our classics:

THE BABY NAME BIBLE
COOL NAMES FOR BABIES
COOL IRISH NAMES FOR BABIES

THE RULES

Only one entry per contestant.  Contest closes at midnight PST on May 7, 2009.   Winner must list the 2008 U.S. Top Ten Girls’ Names AND the Top Ten Boys’ Names in the correct order, according to the Social Security Administration list.  If no one guesses the correct order, Pam and Linda will choose a winner from the entires that come closest. Nameberry reserves the right to announce the name of the winner.

So enter today—and good luck!!