Top Baby Names of 2003
Or... how to make sure you child is ridiculed for the rest of their life. Check out the list from BabyCenter. Also, check out Gene Weingarten's fine article from the Washington Post, "Stop the Madisonness!"
Here's a quick rundown for you lazy folks: Madison is the #3 most popular baby girl name for 2003. Before the movie, "Splash" with Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, no one ever named their child Madison. Hannah's mermaid character was so named after looking up and seeing a street sign in New York City for Madison Avenue. That's what you're naming your kids after, people!!! A New York City street!!!
Here are some of the more egregious girls' names:
Kayla (28) is OK, but Makayla(29)?
Riley (30) and Bailey (59) last time I checked, were boy's names...
Destiny (60) and Trinity (61) naming your child after a Matrix character, nice.
Skylar (77) Mckenna (78) Kennedy (79) Peyton (80) Reagan (89) They all seem to be last names to me.
And finally, Brooklyn, the 95th most popular girl's name!
I have less of a beef with the boy's names. Many are traditional names, like Jacob and Isaac. Some of the weirder ones are Logan (18), Jayden (19), Brayden (46), Mason (54). It seems odd though that many of the names listed are what most would consider nicknames: Jack (14, short for Jackson-30 or sometimes John-33), Alex (40, short for Alexander-17), Jake (52, short for Jacob-1), Max (66-short for Maximilian or Maxwell), Sam (86, short for Samuel-41), Will (98, short for William-25) and Ben (100, short for Benjamin-23).
So, I hope Eleanor Grace appreciates her name when she grows up with Makayla and Jayden.
Comments
My neighbors named their dog Madison... trendsetters
Wisconsin named their capital Madison too.
Posted by: John | February 3, 2004 2:17 PM
Not to start an argument, but what about naming a kid after James Madison, one of our founding fathers? Would that make "Madison" acceptable as a name? People have been naming kids weird things for decades. For example, Amy became popular as a name when Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" was released. Many girls were named "Eleanor" after Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930's. What really is there in a name? Sometimes a story of conception or a story of heritage. But ultimately, names are given and can be changed.
Personally, Merritt Galbraith wouldn't be my first choice for my kid's name but isn't it nice to live in a place where that could be????
Posted by: Shel | February 4, 2004 11:37 PM