Both of my kids' names are more popular now than the year before. Oliver, particularly, has leaped upwards since ours was born in 2012.

Yipes! Craig has dropped from #813 in 2013 to #933 in 2014. It's been dropping almost every year this century... (#778 in 2012, #808 in 2011, #664 in 2010, #667 in 2009, #590 in 2008, #543 in 2007, #546 in 2006, #493 in 2005, #479 in 2004, #424 in 2003, #378 in 2002, #380 in 2001, #340 in 2000, #327 in 1999) That's down 606 places in 15 years, and now at risk of falling off the Top 1000 list altogether. You'd think between Craigslist, Craig Ferguson and Daniel Craig, somebody would want to name their little boy Craig. (I blame South Park... I'll bet Kenny isn't doing well either).

For the record, the year I was born (1955?!?), Craig was the #50 boys' name. FIF-TY. (And yet, I only had two classmates in all my years in school, including college, with the name Craig... what's with that?) It's popularity crawled up to #39 in 1969 and 1970, then started slowly dropping... didn't fall out of the Top 100 until 1989, out of the Top 300 by 1998 and it's continued to fall out of favor. You know what was cool when I was a kid? Craig Electronics. My first cassette recorder had my name on it!

BTW, Wendell was #230 in 1955... fell out of the Top 500 in 1982, #859 in 1995, then dropped off the Top 1000. And now Craig is on its way to doing the same.

(My middle name, Lee, was #96 in 1955 and #701 in 2014... and now there are so many girls' names on the list that end with -lee... that's why I don't use it much... "there's cute little Craiglee!")

Anybody have a good name I can use?

Fewer Robins than ever. By the time I am an old(er) woman, being called Robin will sound like Elsie or Gertrude or something. My middle name is not doing as badly.

My name has never been nor will ever be on the chart. There were enough of us a few years in the 70s to get in the data file (5+ babies for that).

Kidlet's name is moving up and hit the top 100 this year. It's similar to Sophia's movement up the chart 10-15 years ago. With my luck it'll hit the top 10 in the next 8-10 years. And I will be ahead of the popularity curve for once!

Thanks -- I always love reading this.

My daughter's name (Madeleine) is steady for the last 10 years around high 200s to low 300s. The more common spelling, dropping the second E, is also steady, between 50 and 100 for those 10 years.

My name is not on the chart, but the common spelling (Bridget) is around the 400s, 500s for most of the period.

Looking at the most common girls names, yep, Maddie has three Sophias, an Ava and an Olivia in her class.

Boys names: I'm surprised William is ranked so high! Maddie doesn't have many trendy boys names in her class, in fact off the top ten she only has a William and a James. Of course, it must be noted that we live in Queens, so she has a high number of kids with names of non-Western ethnicity (anecdotal: the girls in her class are far more likely to have Western-style names than the boys, even given that most parents in the class are immigrants. Actually, I can't think of a family in Maddie's class where both parents are from the US.)

Of course, I really should go back to 2008 to look at names for her class.

Hey, that's strange. My 6 yr old daughters name is the Dutch spelling of Eleanor. I thought the english version was really obscure in the US. Like Gertrude. But this year it's back to the same level of popularity as 1941...

My name has been in the top 100 for girl's names for ages. I am not sure this is a good thing -- in sixth grade, for example, there were at least 4 of us with "my" name.

I find it a bit depressing that Twilight seems to be exerting an ongoing influence on baby names.

Those girls names are so pageant!

My name first appeared in 1930 and reached its height of popularity at 131 in 1954. By the time I was born in 1959 it had dropped 30 places and continued to fall until it disappeared from the chart after 1982.

jouke -- that's my daughter's middle name :)

My name was in the top twenty in 1929 but has dropped down to 790 by now. That would explain why so many people have said that they had a grandfather with my name.

High five gaspode!

Wow, my name was #1 from 1962 to 1969. There were a lot of us in high school. 750 now. (My original birth name never made it above 450.)

Those girls names are so pageant!

Ha! Funny cultural perception difference (or just me?) To me, a pageant-sounding name would be like, Ashley, Brandy, or a double-barreled name. Those names all sound like pretty, slightly old fashioned girls names. Which is what has been trendy for quite a while now (Charlotte and Ava were both on my list for Maddie's name.)

I think 1983 was the peak year for gender swapped names. In 1989, 255 girls were named Robert and 140 boys were named Elizabeth.

David was particularly popular for girls in 1983, coming in with 321 and a rank of 567/1000. And boys named Jennifer numbered 204 in 1984 and ranked #594/1000.

None of these names appear in the top 1000 for any year after 1991.

Surprisingly, Sue as a boys name never makes the top 1000. Nor does Susan.

The Biggest Changes On This Year’s Baby Name List

Nice framing when you reposted this on TheMetaMothership, Pink.

Before I copy/paste my long comment there, I must answer your question. If I had the name that holds the same position in 2014 that Craig held in 1955, it would be Aaron. Which I'd rather have as a last name because growing up with a last name starting in W meant always being in the back of the last row of the seating chart (I was thankful for, and sympathetic for, Jimmy Woo and Tommy Zigler, the only ones who ever sat behind me).

But if I had the name that held the same position in 1955 that Craig holds now.... Buster. Mmmmmkay.