American Baby Girl Names—The Fall, Rise And Retained Since 1960

There was not much rise and fall in the naming system as it is nowadays. Here is a detailed study of the baby girl names since 1960 to 2013. This article also gives a fair idea about your born year, for instance, if you are born in between 1970-1984 there are 80% chances that your name would be Jennifer.

In 1960, Susan, Lori, Lisa, Julie, Karen, Donna and Mary were the known names of baby girls, among these Mary occupied the top position in the central cities of America, whereas Susan was more famous in the Northern cities like Van Couver, Washington, Montana and Seattle. Mary retained its position in 1961 and Lisa followed it closely.

In 1962, Lisa occupied cities in the south and north and became the most famous name leaving behind Mary. In 1963 it covered most of the American cities and in 1964, 80% of the baby girl names were named Lisa. During 1965-1967 almost 100% of the baby girls were named Lisa. Though in 1967, a new name Michelle springs up, but Lisa retained its top position till 1969.

The year 1970 has witnessed few new names like Kimberly, Angela, Melissa, Jennifer and Michelle. Jennifer covered the whole of the southern part of America which includes Seattle, Portland, Van Couver, Helena, Oakland, Las Vegas, Mexico and nearby regions. In 1971, Jennifer was the most popular among most of the American cities, leaving Angela and Michelle behind. Jennifer retained its top position for 13 years from 1971 -1984. Jessica has started appearing since 1981 and gained popularity by 1984 on being in third position after Jennifer and Ashley.

In 1985 Jessica marginally stayed ahead of Ashley and gained popularity in the northern cities of America. Till 1990 Jessica remained in top position for five years. In the meantime year 1989 witnessed Brittany for the first time in a few of the southern cities.

After struggling for years in 1991, Ashley at last reached on top position by beating Jessica marginally. Ashley was the most popular name in the south and north cities of America till 1992.

Again in 1993, Jessica leapfrogged to the number one position till 1995. Year 1994 witnessed Taylor and Emily as the new entrants.

Surprisingly, in 1996-2007, Emily became most popular in entire America along with Jessica, and Ashley. Other names which started shining are Samantha, Madison, Taylor, Hannah, Alexis, Emma, Alyssa, Isabella, Olivia, Ava.

Sometimes the trend or the influence rises, so fast that the names which were popular in a few cities spread all over the America in a span of one year. Emma, Sophia and Isabella are such names. In 2008 Emma was the most popular name in America.

In 2009 and 2010, Isabella stepped ahead, leaving Emma and Sophia behind. Emma and Sophia pulled each other to attain the first position, but Sophia left Emma behind and retained on top position for two years 2011-2012.

Thus the name position game keeps happening each year. There are many trends and influences appeared, parents were inspired by weird, eccentric names, celebrity named their child in their idiosyncratic manner. But a few names with biblical influences and meaningful meanings remain on top.