The Social Security Administration released its data on baby names today, and Jacob and Isabella maintained their top spots. But don’t believe the Twilight hype! Jacob has been the most popular boy name for over a decade, Taylor Lautner’s abs be damned. But there’s plenty of pop in the top 100 names. Buffy? No. Serenity? Yes: number 84 for girls. Quinn jumped for girls and dropped for boys — Glee strikes again? — and Zoey is gaining ground on Zoe, perhaps thanks to one Ms. Deschanel.
Reality stars are where it’s at, though. The fastest-rising names for girls and boys both come from Teen Mom: Maci jumped to 232nd for girls, while Bentley moved up to 101st for boys. Giuliana was the second-fastest rising girl’s name, moving all the way up to 376th. Khloe is also climbing the charts (No. 42 this year, which makes it more popular than Charlotte), as is Mason, so we have yet more things for which to thank/blame the Kardashians. But reality names tend to rise fast and fall hard: Aaden, the bizarre misspelling of “Aidan†popularized by Gosselin spawn, is the fastest-falling name of the year after being the fastest-rising name back in 2008.
Suppose you love reality-contest shows, though, and can’t pick just one. Well, do what around 500 parents last year did and go with the ultimate reality name: Journey. (Or what 274 other parents picked: Journee.)