The Most Popular Names for 2005

The names have been tallied and the results are in: The most popular baby names of 2005 are Emily and Jacob, according to the Social Security Administration. When it comes to number one, Americans don't vary much: Emily has been the most popular girls' name since 1996, and Jacob has reigned supreme for boys since 1999.

Girls' Names:

Boys' Names:

1. Jacob

New to the top 10 were Ava and Anthony. Anthony was number 11 in 2004 and switched places in 2005 with William for the number 8 spot. Ava entered the top 10 at number 9 in 2005 after not even making the top 20 in 2004. Ava's new role as a most popular name resulted in Elizabeth being bumped down to number 12.

Other popular names have moved around the list a bit, and there are also new names that have made a home in the top 20 most popular names of 2005. Christopher and Joseph did a do-si-do, which left Joseph as the new number 10 and Christopher as the new number 9. Alexander, Ryan, and Nicholas shifted on the list to make room for Jonathan, the new number 19; Jonathan was not on the top 20 list of 2004, but for the last 14 years has remained in the 21-29 most popular names ranking.

The top 10 most popular girls' names underwent a mini-makeover in 2005, with the introduction of Ava and the changing places of names formerly housed in slots 4 through 10. Abigail, Olivia, Isabella, Hannah, and Samantha all moved around the list to make room for two new names in the top 20. Mia and Chloe, two names not listed in the top 20 of 2004, now hold the number 17 and number 19 slots. In 1991, Mia was number 337 on the most popular name list, rose to number 30 in 2004, making a steady and consistent climb in the past 14 years. Chloe was number 178 in 1991, and also showed perseverance ending up at number 23 in 2004.

State by state, the most popular names for girls and boys were a direct parallel to the national top 10 most popular names list, except for Arizona, Texas, and the District of Colombia, who dare to be different. The top name for boys in Arizona was Angel, while in Texas it was Jose, and in D.C., the most popular name for boys was William.

Who knows what next year's list will show. For more predictions of top baby names for the 2000s, don't forget to read "Top Baby Names of the Decade...So Far!"

Originally published on AmericanBaby.com, May 2006.