Popular Baby Names: Jacob Continues It's Dominance

The most popular baby name of the past 10 years? The answer for a boy is Jacob. Jacob was the most popular baby name in 2008. But did you know the most popular baby name for a boy has been Jacob every year since the year 2000? According to the Social Security Administration website, the most popular baby name for boys has been consistently Jacob every year in this entire decade. That means if you had a boy and named him Jacob, he'll have a few other in his classroom to get confused with.

The most popular baby name for girls in 2008 was Emma. 2008 was the only year that Emma was the most popular baby name for girls in the entire decade. Emma kind of worked her way up the charts on the most popular baby names. She climbed from 17th in 2000 all the way to 4th in 2002. She was the second or third most popular baby name until 2008 when Emma's struck gold becoming the most popular baby name in the United States. Emma finally overtook the very popular other Em baby name Emily. Emily was a dominant force like Jacob in the past decade, winning every year from 2000 to 2007 before losing her hold to Emma as the most popular baby name for girls.

The decade has been, as we should put it, very unoriginal in terms of baby names. Jacob and Emily have certainly dominated the most popular baby names in the United States. Will 2009 be any different? We fully expect Jacob to be the most popular baby name for 2009. Our son, appropriately but not intentionally, was named Jacob. Little did we check or know the Social Security Administration ranked the most popular baby names at the time or we may have given him something a little more original. Jacob is a family name for us and we liked the flexibility that he could be Jake, Jacob or even Jay for short. I've always liked the names Emma and Emily, too but we might go away from those most popular girls names just to give our daughter some breathing room from other girls with the same most popular baby names.