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You don't need to be having a baby to find this site interesting: you can use it to see the trends of baby names in history. (It's a lot of data, so be patient: it takes a bit of time to load after you click the link.) It tracks the top-1000 most popular names. Take a name -- say, Randy, to pick one totally at random. Type the name slowly and you'll find the relevant data starts to appear. Using your mouse to hover over different points you can find, for instance, that "Randy" is the masculine form, and "Randi" the feminine. In the 1950s, Randy was the 33rd most popular name for boys. In the 60s it drops to 40th, in the 70s it gets down to 77th. (And in 2004, it was down to 315th!) The data is from the U.S. Social Security Administration, so it's obviously U.S.-centric, but it's interesting to see naming trends over time, and whether your parents were influenced by naming fads when you were born. From This is True for 19 August 2005 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Laura Wattenberg List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $10.36 Editorial Review: Yes, your baby’s perfect name is out there.  List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $10.36 Editorial Review: This complete baby naming resource includes more names and more helpful features than any other book on the market: - Over 100,000 baby names and their meanings, derivations and famous namesakes - 5,000 Hispanic names. - Icons to identify names used for both genders, and to indicate whether they're used evenly, more for boys, or more for girls. - Updated lists ranking the 100 most popular names for boys and girls in 2004 - Top-hundred ranked names are starred in the main text of the book. - A new introductory chapter by Bruce Lansky: "How to Pick A Name for Your Baby" - 300 helpful lists of names to consider, including famous authors, actors, athletes, artists, scientists as well as lists of names that convey an image: attractive, smart, competent, friendly, wimpy, etc.  By: Lesley Bolton List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $10.36 Editorial Review: By far, the most complete, up-to-date and BEST book on baby-naming! Welcoming a new baby into the family is one of the biggest blessings in life. The Complete Book of Baby Names helps make this transition fun-and easy-by giving you the most complete and up-to-date book of baby names available. Whether you're looking to carry on family tradition, stay true to your religion or ethnic background or want to try something new and different, The Complete Book of Baby Names is packed full of more than 100,001 baby names with origins and definitions that make choosing baby's names (almost) painless. Perfect as a self-purchase or a gift, The Complete Book of Baby Names will delight expectant parents everywhere. The Complete Book of Baby Names includes: -- The most up-to-date list of popular names-including twin names -- 276 fun lists to help you choose, including: names that command respect, celebrity names, names from children's literature and names with great expectations -- Modern baby-naming trends -- What not to name your baby -- Attributes of a perfect name -- Adding a middle name-or two -- And lots more! Everything you need to choose the perfect name!  By: Dorothy Astoria List Price: $12.99 Amazon Price: $10.39 Editorial Review: Comprehensive book of 12,000+ names, including their meanings, origins, and spiritual significance with supporting Scripture.  By: Bruce Lansky List Price: $6.95 Amazon Price: $6.95 Editorial Review: An expanded edition of 55,000+ Baby Names with over 60,000 names and 200 fun, helpful lists of names to consider. It also has the latest rankings for the top 100 boys¿ and girls¿ names and 1,500 names used for both genders with icons that show which names are used more for boys, more for girls, or about 50/50. And, it includes more than 5,000 Hispanic names and 5,000 African-American names. (Of course, it also includes well over 5,000 English, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, French, Irish, and German names and thousands of names from throughout Europe and Asia.) |
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