Popular Girls Names: Their ups and downs
If I were a cookbook writer, I think my first title would be: “100 Ways to Dice and Slice the Social Security List.” There is so much information to be found embedded in it and so many ways to look at it, that there seems to be no end of different and intriguing ways to parse the data.
Pam will be writing later about the startling number of names that have been in the Top 1000 consistently—which is to say every single year– since score-keeping began in1880. Today I’ll take a look at the patterns followed by the names that have moved in and out of fashion.
First, the girls, grouped by the decades they first came into favor, followed by the specific years when they were included in the Top 100. (This does not include names that have been up there every single year.)
You may be surprised at when some of the names initially appeared—sometimes earlier, sometimes later than you might have guessed. Zoe and Chloe, for example, were both strong in the 19th century, as were Savannah and Samantha. Alexis was already up there in the 1940s, but Alexa didn’t break through till the 70s; Kayla was there as early as the fifties, while—and this may not be such a surprise– Kaitlyn, Katelyn, Kaylee and Makayla all broke through as a group in the eighties, along with Hailey and Bailey.
1880s-90s (and possibly earlier)
Abigail: 1880-1897, 1901-1903, 1906, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1949-2009
Andrea: 1880-1881, 1884-1887, 1889, 1901-1904, 1907-2009
Ava: 1880-1972, 1974-1975, 1984, 1986-2009
Bella: 1880-1931, 2000-2009
Chloe: 1880-1943, 1982-2009
Ella: 1880-1983, 1988, 1990-2009
Faith: 1880-1882, 1884-1886, 1888-2009
Isabella: 1880-1948, 1990-2009
Isabelle: 1880-1954, 1957, 1991-2009
Jessica: 1880-1893, 1895, 1898-1900, 1903-1912, 1914-1918, 1935, 1937, 1939-2009
Lily: 1880-1964, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1979-2009
Madelyn: 1893, 1895-1965, 1986-2009
Mariah: 1880-1908, 1910-1911, 1913, 1973, 1975-2009
Melanie: 1886, 1938-2009
Samantha: 1880-1902, 1907, 1964-2009
Savannah: 1880-1922, 1924-1925, 1928, 1983-2009
Sofia: 1881, 1881, 1886, 1888-1889, 1891-1892, 1895, 1898, 1900-1901, 1906-1914, 1916-1917, 1920-1925, 1927-1931, 1935, 1969, 1971-2009
Sophie: 1880-1955, 1984-2009
Sydney: 1886, 1905, 1932-1957, 1959-1961, 1963-1967, 1981-2009
Valeria: 1881-1944, 1946-1976, 1983, 1985-2009
Zoe: 1880-1912, 1914-1926, 1928-1929, 1931-1941, 1951-1955, 1957-1961, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1983-2009
1910s
Alexandra: 1915, 1934, 1936, 1938-2009
1920s
Jocelyn: 1927-1937, 1939-1943, 1945, 1948-2009
1940s
Alexis: 1943-1963, 1965-2009
Allison: 1946-2009
Kimberly: 1946-2009
Lauren: 1945-2009
1950s
Brooke: 19053-1954, 1961-2009
Gabrielle: 1957-2009
Kayla: 1959-1960, 1962-2009
Paige: 1952, 1955-1956, 1958-2009
Vanessa: 1950-2009
1960s
Alyssa: 1963-2009
Ashley: 1964-2009
Autumn: 1969-2009
Mia: 1964-2009
1970s
Alexa: 1973-2009
Ariana: 1978, 1980-2009
Aubrey: 1973-2009
Brianna: 1976-2009
Destiny: 1975-2009
Gabriella: 1974, 1984-2009
Jasmine: 1973-2009
Kylie: 1978-2009
Layla: 1972-1978, 1993-1996, 1998-2009
Mackenzie: 1976-2009
Maya: 1970-2009
Morgan: 1976-2009
Taylor: 1979-2009
Trinity: 1974-1979, 1993-2009
1980s
Arianna: 1982, 1986-2009
Avery: 1989-2009
Bailey: 1983-2009
Genesis: 1988-2009
Giana: 1989-2009
Hailey: 1982-2009
Kaitlyn: 1983-2009
Katelyn: 1981-2009
Kaylee: 1984-2009
Madison: 1985-2009
Makayla: 1989-2009
1990s
Aaliyah: 1994-2009
Addison: 1994-2009
Brooklyn: 1990-2009
Camila: 1997-2009
Mya: 1997-2009
Payton: 1992-2009
Peyton: 1992-2009
Riley: 1990-2009
Serenity: 1997-2009
2000s
Khloe: 2006-2009
Nevaeh: 2001-2009
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the boys’ list.