Name Sakes

Last night at a dinner party, a friend told Jenn and I that they had some good friends in San Diego whose last name is Kelly, but even more funny is the fact that they have a daughter and son named Ava and Bennett. While Ava has been a rather popular name over the last few years, Bennett has never been in the top 300. So the coincidence of the same two names in the same family is pretty rare.

Popularity of the female name Ava

Year of birth	Rank
2008	5
2007	4
2006	5
2005	9
2004	25
2003	39
2002	82
2001	133
2000	180

Popularity of the male name Bennett

Year of birth	Rank
2008	361
2007	372
2006	368
2005	391
2004	404
2003	430
2002	445
2001	471
2000	441

I have always been interested in names and the externalities they bring to people; that interest peaked even more after I read Freakoniomics and the analysis and insight that they offered. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested or will be naming a child soon. It is also interesting to see how name trends can change according to our current events in the world. A classic example of that is 'Katrina' who was trending toward higher rankings until 2005.

Here is another recent post from the Freakonomics blog regarding names, that I thought was pretty funny.

And for the official Social Security Name Rankings go here.