The wait is almost over! The official list of U.S. Most Popular Names of 2017 will be released on twitter by the Social Security Administration on Friday, May 11 at 9:05 am ET 　　And so in advance of the imminent announcement, which of course we’re all awaiting with bated breath, we’re...

　　By Katherine Morna Towne 　　The name Mary and its variants Marie and Maria have been given to girls from humble families, royal families and every family in between for centuries (it was even suggested that the new Prince Louis might have been named Mary if he’d been a girl). In...

　　The biggest news in the most popular baby names in the US for 2017 is that there’s a new boys’ name at the top of the list.  Liam, the Irish short form of William, long used on its own, moves from second place to first. 　　For girls, Emma is Number...

　　By Kelli Brady 　　After seeing the SSA’s 2017 Popular Baby Names list, did you wonder why you aren’t hearing the #1 name as much as a name further down on the list? Do you hear a lot more “Sophia!” on the playground than “Emma!”? One way to try to explain...

　　When you look 　　popular names by state, it’s clear we live in a nation divided. There’s the United States of Ava and William (the South), the United States of Olivia and Oliver (the Great Plains) and the United States of Emma, Liam and Noah (most of the rest: coastal population...

　　By John Kelly 　　The Social Security Administration’s 2017 baby name data is now in, charting the Top 1000 names on its card applications for newborns dating back to 1880. They also help track our ever-changing tastes  and trends in baby names. 　　One of those trends suggests that we’re increasingly enamored...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　May was an extraordinary month in the Nameberry Birth Announcement forums. We had a girl named Tully, boys called Godric and Endymion and Ignatius, middle names Lilac and Nickleby, brothers Atlas and Apollo, and nicely paired twins August Matthias and Thomas Nathaniel. 　　Parents drew inspiration from sources...

　　Are you expecting a summertime daughter and still seeking her name? Maybe one that reflects the season of her birth, but doesn’t shout it out?  　　Here we’ve compiled a list of over two dozen more subtle choices, potential summer baby names that you may not have considered. 　　AinePronounced AWN-ya, this is...

　　These veteran parents know their style, but that doesn’t always make it easier to choose a favorite. 　　Christina writes: 　　I need some help coming up with a name for our FIFTH baby.  Our oldest is a boy and the rest are girls. New baby is another girl, which makes it...

　　Their new daughter will need surgery shortly after birth. Time to find a strong name with the right meaning to encourage their little fighter! 　　Kristen writes: 　　We recently found out we were having our third girl and we were absolutely thrilled. Of course, I immediately dug up the master list...

　　We all know about boy names for girls like Madison and Addison, Harper and Avery that were once exclusively male, later to be counted among the most popular girl names. 　　Then there are the newer names crossing the gender divide toward the girls’ side. These may still be more widely...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　Nickname names are hot! Who by now hasn’t met, for instance, a girl named Sam or Charlie? And nobody loves a nickname name more than celebrities, and many of them have displayed a lot of originality, discovering and reviving long forgotten relics.  Here are some of the...

　　by Linda Rosenkrantz 　　They were once the belles of the ball.  But then they gradually lost their luster and found themselves in baby name limbo. 　　Most of these girls’ names aren’t vintage enough to benefit from the 100-year rule. And many are recent enough to still bring up images of...