Most Popular Baby Names

Choosing your baby's name is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. I have many friends who have been scarred by the names their parents have given them. Have you thought about naming your child a cultural name? Those are popular today. I once met a girl with a traditional African name, Fisseha. It is a nice name, but imagine what she put up with in an American school as a young child! If a more traditional American name is more your style maybe you've considered naming your son Richard. That's a nice, solid, American name. Just remember, his friends will call him "Dick." This is harder than it looks!

This decision is so important that the Social Security Administration Department releases a list of the most popular names in America every year. Here are the latest results for 2004.

Top 5 Arkansas Boy Names
1: Jacob
2: William
3: Ethan
4: Joshua
5: Michael

Top 5 Arkansas Girl Names
1: Madison
2: Emily
3: Emma
4: Hannah
5: Olivia

Top 10 Nationwide Boy Names
1: Jacob
2: Michael
3: Joshua
4: Matthew
5: Ethan
6: Andrew
7: Daniel
8: William
9: Joseph
10: Christopher

Top 10 Nationwide Girl Names
1: Emily
2: Emma
3: Madison
4: Olivia
5: Hannah
6: Abigail
7: Isabella
8: Ashley
9: Ashley
10: Elizabeth

According to Baby Center, in 2005 the top names were Emma, Emily, Madison, Kaitlyn, Sophia, Isabella, Olivia, Hannah, Makayla and Ava for girls and Aidan, Jacob, Ethan, Nichola, Matthew, Ryan, Tyler, Jack, Joshua and Andrew for boys.