Finn has taken over as Nameberry’s top boy name for 2012, claiming the Number 1 spot held last year by Asher.  Former most popular boys’ name Henry drops to Number 3.

The names on our boys’  Top 10 remain the same as last year, except that Owen and Felix have switched places at Numbers 10 and 11.

Biblical Simon is the name that’s risen furthest on the Nameberry list, up 43 places.  The boys’ names moving the most places up the ladder are:

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The most popular baby names of 2011 are officially here, with Sophia unseating Isabella to become the the new top girls’ name in the U.S..

Jacob remains the most popular name for boys for the 13^th year in a row.  An Old Testament name that means “supplanter” and a cousin of James, Jacob has been in the Top Ten for nearly two decades.

The Social Security Administration announced the 2011 Most Popular Baby Names on The Today Show this morning.

The complete Top Ten are:

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I have a friend, a pretty quirky guy, who has one of those generic boys’ names: Bill.  I was thinking recently what an advantage it is for Bill to be named Bill rather than something like Jasper or Jarvis, one of those boys’ names that’s his equal in quirkiness.  Bill takes the edge off his eccentric attitudes and offbeat style.  It’s almost like the name Bill runs interference for my friend, telling the world: Don‘t worry, he may seem odd, but at heart he’s just a regular guy.

Of course, today naming your child Bill wouldn’t have the same effect.  Bill is too mid-century a name and so seems old-fashioned or stodgy, not a regular guy of 2018 or 2025 at all.  It’s one of those names that count as Regular Guy Names for dads or grandpas, but not for babies.  These include:

• Al
• Andy
• Bill
• Bob or Rob

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Popular baby names go through cycles: They rise to the top, but then in a year or a decade, most fall away to be replaced by….

Well, by new names that are often pretty darn similar to the old ones.  In the 80s, Jennifer was number one, until it was replaced by Jessica.  Emily held the top spot for several years, and then was supplanted by Emma.

The reason for this same-but-different pattern is so simple and logical it hardly bears stating — but we’ll do so anyway.  Popular baby names, by definition, are those that are favored by a wide range of people.  Except once they become too popular for too long, parents don’t want to choose them, no matter how much they may still like them.

So they look for names that are the same, but different.  That have some twist that makes them new, while retaining the appeal of the originals.

Many of the most popular baby names today have close cousins waiting in the wings, ready to move up and replace the well-liked but overused favorites of today.

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On the boys’ side of nameberry’s Most Popular Names 2010, Henry edged out Finn to hang onto the Number 1 place that it’s held for most of the year. If you count related names such as Finnian and Finnegan, however, the Finn family would be Number 1.

Oliver, the Number 1 boys’ name in England but only Number 98 on the U.S. list, is in third place on the nameberry count and Jasper and Milo are the fastest risers in the boys’ Top 10.

Nameberry’s Most Popular Names 2010 list counts the number of times visitors to our site searched each name throughout the year, which we like to think gives the discerning baby namer an excellent insight into which names are attracting the most buzz. Our individual name pages received 4.5 million views in 2010, with top name Henry garnering nearly 10,000 searches.  About two-thirds of our visitors are from the U.S., with another 20 percent from Canada, Australia, and the U.K.

None of our boys’ Top 10 are on the national Top 10. The fashionable classic James is Number 11 on our list but only 18 on the U.S. popularity list.

The fastest rising boys’ names are marked with an asterisk and include Sebastian, Sawyer, Declan, Silas, and Beckett.

Look here for our 2010 most popular names for girls.

Here are the Top 100 nameberry most popular names 2010 for boys:

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