But Emily doesn't have 4 letters...

In this week's trivia contest, Ken Jennings asked what baby girl's name has been the most popular one register with the Social Security service over the past 10 years. That one's easy, it's Emily, I assume for all those (like Tara) Emily Dickinson fans out there. (#1 for 10 years...)

That got me to thinking, what's actually out there? So, after finishing with the trivia questions and sending them off about an hour ago, I have been looking through the names. Names like Seven are not on the 1000 most popular. I guess "Seinfeld" and "Star Trek Voyager" just didn't get the job done, although Kate has a friend named Seven, and I didn't even want to try for Five. (Beta was also not on the list for some reason.)

	Emma	Kate	Mary	Ruth	Tara	Lily	Amy	Kay lyn	Mel issa	Pam ela
2005	2	140	73	351	340	39	111	664	104	619
2004	2	147	62	351	322	52	106	690	99	528
2003	2	161	59	353	336	69	119	646	96	447
2002	4	193	51	338	295	79	109	600	80	514
2001	13	200	49	331	272	103	114	644	74	482
2000	17	225	47	344	239	124	106	588	71	456
1999	17	229	45	350	231	152	105	568	64	422
1998	22	272	45	346	189	169	96	561	59	388
1997	36	323	46	336	172	219	92	519	45	360
1996	53	344	44	351	167	261	88	556	42	341
1995	67	364	40	323	158	319	76	546	35	384
1994	76	352	37	331	146	392	77	536	31	350
1993	81	335	38	316	132	452	65	590	30	324
1992	104	325	37	323	118	471	51	595	24	303
1991	123	285	38	287	104	504	43	724	20	259

As you can see, some of these names are losing ground. If it were not nearly 2am, I would be tempted to see how long I predict before names like "Tara", "Melissa", and "Pamela" come off the list (of 1000 most popular).

	John	Robert	And rew	David	Adam	Tho mas	Rod erick	Ron ald	Russ ell	Jona than	Scott	Ethan
2005	18	39	6	14	64	40	782	256	394	19	235	5
2004	18	36	6	14	58	37	720	232	365	21	214	5
2003	17	35	5	14	58	36	746	239	346	22	207	6
2002	17	34	6	13	55	36	636	227	328	21	185	5
2001	14	30	7	12	51	33	653	212	307	23	167	17
2000	14	29	7	16	45	33	613	203	320	21	158	25
1999	15	26	7	16	44	31	588	186	325	22	140	37
1998	15	23	9	13	45	31	627	182	300	21	123	38
1997	15	23	8	14	39	31	550	164	258	21	113	46
1996	15	23	10	13	39	28	537	156	260	21	108	62
1995	13	22	11	16	38	27	513	146	239	23	91	75
1994	15	21	10	13	38	27	486	137	233	23	79	89
1993	16	17	10	11	39	27	447	122	201	22	69	92
1992	14	17	5	10	36	27	431	112	185	21	61	76
1991	10	13	5	8	36	28	418	101	174	20	57	65

Some names, especially those tied to the Bible, seem to stick around. (And that's why my name is on the Terror Watch List...)

	Faith	Hope	Charity	Grace
2005	51	184	654	14
2004	53	180	571	13
2003	50	172	529	13
2002	48	160	506	15
2001	53	151	486	16
2000	66	146	458	19
1999	76	143	525	27
1998	106	160	528	53
1997	124	171	516	69
1996	149	186	487	94
1995	172	193	496	97
1994	218	233	516	103
1993	245	288	488	123
1992	245	310	500	127
1991	260	264	455	134

While it appears that Faith and Grace are still going strong, Hope is fluctuating, and we never really had much Charity...

	Peter	James	John	And rew	Philip	Bartho lomew	Tho mas	Matt hew	Simon	Judas
2005	161	17	18	6	325	***	40	4	254	***
2004	142	17	18	6	307	***	37	4	254	***
2003	146	18	17	5	289	***	36	4	235	***
2002	134	18	17	6	263	***	36	4	242	***
2001	133	19	14	7	268	***	33	3	259	***
2000	125	18	14	7	255	***	33	3	263	***
1999	105	19	15	7	240	***	31	3	267	***
1998	111	18	15	9	214	***	31	3	301	***
1997	102	17	15	8	195	***	31	3	334	***
1996	96	17	15	10	185	***	28	2	342	***
1995	89	17	13	11	180	***	27	2	373	***
1994	87	14	15	10	168	***	27	3	356	***
1993	82	14	16	10	147	***	27	3	358	***
1992	81	9	14	5	138	***	27	3	348	***
1991	77	7	10	5	120	***	28	3	371	***

I would really be worried about things if Judas was on the list, Judas the brother of James withstanding...

	Boyd	Tom	Russ ell	Dal lin	Jos eph	Rich ard	Rob ert	Jeff rey	Hen ry	Dieter	David
2005	***	***	394	959	10	93	39	171	103	***	14
2004	***	***	365	915	9	92	36	149	109	***	14
2003	***	***	346	790	7	86	35	140	116	***	14
2002	***	***	328	738	7	77	34	132	115	***	13
2001	***	***	307	755	8	73	30	119	123	***	12
2000	***	***	320	743	8	65	29	104	126	***	16
1999	***	***	325	726	8	61	26	100	130	***	16
1998	***	***	300	744	11	55	23	91	136	***	13
1997	***	***	258	792	12	61	23	84	139	***	14
1996	***	996	260	779	12	45	23	72	139	***	13
1995	***	961	239	852	12	42	22	64	136	***	16
1994	***	***	233	850	11	41	21	55	146	***	13
1993	***	886	201	825	12	40	17	53	136	***	11
1992	***	861	185	***	11	40	17	51	141	***	10
1991	***	733	174	***	9	34	13	45	145	***	8

And the current 12 (with 2 Russells). See, I'd really like to know when Richard and Jeffrey will drop off the list...

I didn't want to find out about names like Bubba, Moe, Curly, Shemp, Billy Bob, or anything like that. It would really be depressing to have one of those in the top 100. Same of Harpo, Zippy, and Dilbert. (Or worse, Dogbert.) If you really have the itch, go see for yourself.