Think Emily Is A Cool Baby Name? Just Ask Poor Lisa

Expecting a baby and looking for one of those cool baby names?. How about the name Emily? If sheer popularity is anything to go by, then Emily is pretty darn cool. In fact, its been number one for an amazing ten years. But before you settle on Emily (if youre looking for a girls name), you may want to consider Lisa. Or Brittany, Heather, or Amanda.

For most of the 1960s, Lisa was the # 1 girls name, much as Emily is today. From 1962 to 1969 Lisa was # 1 each year, and it remained in the top three until 1972. But from 1972 through today, Lisa lost ground steadily, registering a new low at # 493 in 2005. In other words, Lisa is off the map. What was once the coolest name in America is now ignored by almost everyone.

Lisa is not alone in its fall from stardom. Heather, the third most popular girls name of the mid-1970s, comes in at # 300 today. Amanda, a top three mainstay for most of the 1980s, has slumped to # 80, and is trending its way right out of the Top 100. And most recently Brittany, one of the coolest girls names of the early 90s, is # 278, heading for the baby name retirement home (at least until its cool again).

The point of all these statistics? Cool names, like any other fashion, are only fashionable until theyre not. And, sooner or later, most names that enjoy a fast rise to the top suffer an equally fast exit. To see how name fads have come and gone, youll find some fun tools at the Social Security Administrations Popular Baby Names page, located at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/Youll also find the top 1000 baby names, and the top 100 baby names broken out by state, at http://www.babynamesgarden.com.

Boys names also rise and fall with the times, although the peaks and valleys are flatter than for girls names. Boys names are a bit more staid. Jeffrey, a top 10 name for about five years in the early 1960s, is down to # 171 today. Brian, a top 10 favorite in the 1970s, landed at # 63 in 2005. And Robert, a top 10 certainty for almost four decades, from the 1950s through the 1980s, is now a humdrum # 39.

Whether for a boy or a girl, if youre considering a trendy baby name, think about how that name will be perceived in twenty years, when junior heads off to college. Fashions change, and todays Emily or Jacob may be tomorrows Heather or Jeffrey. And finally, before you settle on one of todays cool names, remember the cautionary tale of Donna. A top 10 name for a decade, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the name Donna is barely considererd today. It has slipped more than 800 places, all the way to # 830. Come to think of it, maybe its time for Donna to make a comeback.

Neil Street is co-publisher of Baby Names Garden, a website for helping prospective parents pick a baby name, located at http://www.babynamesgarden.com. He is also editor of the Celebrity Baby Names Blog, at http://www.celebritybabynamesblog.com He writes frequently about baby naming topics.Ginevra Blog37297
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