Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Thursday Thirteen #188


WHY EVERYBODY KNOWS SOMEBODY
NAMED "MICHAEL"

According to the Social Security Administration, here are the 13 most popular boys names from 2011.

1) Jacob
2) Mason
3) William
4) Jayden
5) Noah
6) Michael
7) Ethan
8) Alexander
9) Aidan
10) Daniel
11) Anthony
12) Matthew
13) Elijah

I checked 2001 and 1961, and "Michael" appears near the top on those lists, too. While my search was by no means exhaustive, it looks like it became massively popular in the mid-1940s and has remained so ever since.

The nearest female equivalent is "Elizabeth," which hangs rather tenaciously in the top 20 though she doesn't rank as consistently high as "Michael."



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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:33 PM

    My name became really popular a few years after I was born, so while there aren't a lot of Sarahs my age there are a lot 5-10 years younger than me. By contrast on my first day at university I met FOUR Amandas.

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  2. This really does explain the many, many Michaels I know. LOL! Very informative!

    Happy TT!

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  3. Anonymous7:39 AM

    I've lost count of the people named Michael I've met over the years. Dated two of them in fact.

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  4. These are really nice names. My favorite is Daniel

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  5. My Cade did not make it

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  6. My Cade did not make it hahaha

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  7. Statistically, you are more likely to know someone named William, as that is the only name that consistently appears in top ten lists going back more than a century. I not only know a William and a Michael, but a Jacob, Danial, Noah, Anthony and Matthew. My blog

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  8. I don't think my name has ever been in the top of the naming lists.

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  9. Funny..."Harriet" never made the list- for girls. I wonder why.....

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