New Postings On Frustrated Claimants Blog

    My firm has started a new blog directed at Social Security disability claimants, rather than Social Security professionals. It's called For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant. Here are links to some recent posts:

• Disability And Homelessness

• If You're Able To Read This, Count Your Blessings; If You're Not, Expect That Others Won't Understand Your Problem

• How Do You Give Good Public Service When Your Employees Are Really Unhappy? You Don't!

• From Social Security: Top Baby Names

• 47% Of Disabled Americans Aren't Getting The Help They Need

• On Being Disabled And Homeless In Rural America

 

 

 

Top Baby Names In Each State

 

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Top Ten Baby Names For 2023

     As announced by Social Security:

Boys	Girls
1. Liam	1. Olivia
2. Noah	2. Emma
3. Oliver	3. Charlotte
4. James	4. Amelia
5. Elijah	5. Sophia
6. Mateo	6. Mia
7. Theodore	7. Isabella
8. Henry	8. Ava
9. Lucas	9. Evelyn
10. William	10. Luna

Didn’t Know The Show Was That Popular

      From Fox News:

The two fastest-growing names for boys in the U.S. last year are inspired by the hit show "Yellowstone," according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

SSA said the names "Dutton" and "Kayce" are ranked #1 and #2 on the list of top five fastest-growing boys' names in 2022.

Dutton is the surname of the fictional family who own the Yellowstone ranch in the hit Paramount Network show. Kevin Costner plays the patriarch, John Dutton. His son in the show is Kayce Dutton, played by Luke Grimes. …

Most Popular Baby Names Of 2022

     From the Social Security Administration:

Boys	Girls
1.     Liam	1.  Olivia
2.     Noah	2.  Emma
3.     Oliver	3.  Charlotte
4.     James	4.  Amelia
5.     Elijah	5.  Sophia
6.     William	6.  Isabella
7.     Henry	7.  Ava
8.     Lucas	8.  Mia
9.     Benjamin	9.  Evelyn
10.   Theodore	10. Luna

    One thing I notice is that eight of the top ten girls names end with an "a." Somehow, parents associate the "a" sound at the end of a name with girls.

Hard To Spell Isaac

    From the Washington Post:

... Inspired by Mississippi-based journalist Sarah Fowler’s brilliant Washington Post story on the folks who changed their baby’s first name — 30,000 in the past five years alone — we asked the Social Security Administration for a list of the most-changed names. They ran the numbers back to 2017. ...

Top Baby Names By State

 

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Most Popular Baby Names

     Social Security has released its list of most popular baby names for 2021:

Boys	Girls
1.     Liam	1.  Olivia
2.     Noah	2.  Emma
3.     Oliver	3.  Charlotte
4.     Elijah	4.  Amelia
5.     James	5.  Ava
6.     William	6.  Sophia
7.     Benjamin	7.  Isabella
8.     Lucas	8.  Mia
9.     Henry	9. Evelyn
10.  Theodore	10. Harper

    And here's the list of the fastest rising names for girls and boys in 2021:

Boys	Girls
1.     Amiri	1.  Raya
2.     Eliam	2.  Wrenley
3.     Colter	3.  Angelique
4.     Ozzy	4.  Vida
5.     Loyal	5.  Emberlynn

     I'm generally in the "What's in a name?" camp when it comes to names but all I can say after looking at the fastest rising list is "Yuck!"

Most Popular Baby Names In 2020

     From Social Security announcement of the most popular names given to babies in 2020. 

Boys	Girls
1. Liam	1. Olivia
2. Noah	2. Emma
3. Oliver	3. Ava
4. Elijah	4. Charlotte
5. William	5. Sophia
6. James	6. Amelia
7. Benjamin	7. Isabella
8. Lucas	8. Mia
9. Henry	9. Evelyn
10. Alexander	10. Harper

Liam And Olivia, The Most Popular Baby Names Of 2019

      From Social Security, the most popular baby names of 2019:

Rank	Male name	Female name
1	Liam	Olivia
2	Noah	Emma
3	Oliver	Ava
4	William	Sophia
5	Elijah	Isabella
6	James	Charlotte
7	Benjamin	Amelia
8	Lucas	Mia
9	Mason	Harper
10	Ethan	Evelyn

The South Likes Ava But The West Likes Emma; Liam Is Big In A Lot Of States

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Social Security's List Of Top 10 Baby Names For 2019

Rank	Male name	Female name
1	Liam	Emma
2	Noah	Olivia
3	William	Ava
4	James	Isabella
5	Oliver	Sophia
6	Benjamin	Charlotte
7	Elijah	Mia
8	Lucas	Amelia
9	Mason	Harper
10	Logan	Evelyn

From Social Security Administration

Most Popular Baby Names

     Here's Social Security's list of the most popular baby names for 2017:

Boys	Girls
1. Liam	1. Emma
2. Noah	2. Olivia
3. William	3. Ava
4. James	4. Isabella
5. Logan	5. Sophia
6. Benjamin	6. Mia
7. Mason	7. Charlotte
8. Elijah	8. Amelia
9. Oliver	9. Evelyn
10. Jacob	10. Abigail

     Whatever happened to "Charles" as a baby name? Or "John" or "Mary" or "Joseph" or "Elizabeth" or "Michael" or "Catherine"?

Top Baby Names Of 2016

	Male name	Female name
1	Noah	Emma
2	Liam	Olivia
3	William	Ava
4	Mason	Sophia
5	James	Isabella
6	Benjamin	Mia
7	Jacob	Charlotte
8	Michael	Abigail
9	Elijah	Emily
10	Ethan	Harper

Source: Social Security Administration

How Do You Spell That?

     From Psychology Today:

Naming a baby is a big decision, one many parents agonize over. ...

In discussion groups online for expecting mothers, many say they want to choose a unique name because “different is good” or “I want him to stand out.” Others dismiss names that are “too popular” because “I don’t want them to be one of three kids with the same name in their class.” ...

In a 2010 paper, my co-authors and I found that the use of common names declined precipitously between the 1950s and 2007 in the Social Security Administration database of the name of every American with a Social Security number (which is nearly everyone). In the 1950s, 1 out of every 4 boys had one of the 10 most popular names. By 2007, only 10% did. Fitting in went from being desirable to being undesirable, and uniqueness went the opposite way. It was yet another sign of American culture becoming more individualistic – more focused on the self and less on social rules. ...

But then the Great Recession hit. People started talking about a “cultural reset,” and in fact charity donations and interest in social issues did go up, suggesting a rise in communalism. But signs of a sustained increase in individualism, such as a continuing rise in positive self-views, also appeared.

So what happened with names? In a paper published today, we found that the trend toward unique names continued during the recession, especially for boys. Unique names are more common now than they were 10 years ago. Thirty-four percent of boys received a name among the 50 most popular in 2004-06, compared to only 30% during the 2008-10 recession years and 28% in post-recession 2011-15. For girls, the decline was from 24% to 22% to 21%. ...

This research shows the hidden power of culture. Across the country over the last few decades, parents were collectively deciding not to choose common names for their children. How does something like that happen? It’s a mysterious process – somehow the value of uniqueness became more prominent. We know it happened, but exactly how and why is a bit of a mystery. For now, we can take comfort that our kids will be less likely to be confused with another who has the same name – but more likely to be asked the question “And how do you spell that?”

Would You Name Your Daughter After A Character In "Game Of Thrones"?

     From the Houston Chronicle:

Using name data from the Social Security Administration, MooseRoots, a genealogy research site that’s part of Graphiq, set out to discover which names broke their own popularity records in 2015. To do this, they found the 100 most popular names, 50 from each gender, that were ranked higher in the U.S. than ever before. ...

The most popular record-breaking female name of 2015 is Charlotte. ... This spike could partially be explained by the arrival of the royal baby Princess Charlotte. ...

Of the 50 most popular record-breaking female names, several can be connected to figures from pop culture. The popularity of the name “Arya” could partially be due to the “Game of Thrones” character Arya Stark played by actress Maisie Williams. The name “Emilia” also appears on the list, perhaps for the same reason. Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen in the hit HBO show. ...

“Riley”, which reached a peak popularity ranking of 35, might be due to Riley Curry, daughter of well-known NBA player Stephen Curry. “Ivy” made the list as well, perhaps due to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who made a cameo in Beyoncé’s “7/11” music video. ...

Of the 50 most popular record-breaking male names, a few are worth highlighting. The popularity of the name “Jaxon” which reached its peak popularity ranking of 44, could be connected to pop singer Justin Bieber’s younger brother Jaxon Bieber. “Maddox” which also makes the top 50, is the name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s adopted son. ...

Most Popular Baby Names

     Hot off the presses, here is Social Security's annual list of the most popular baby names for last year:

Most Popular Baby Names By State

     You can now search for the most popular baby names for 2014 (and other years) by state.

Most Popular Baby Names

     From Social Security, the most popular names for babies in 2014:

Boys

1. Noah
2. Liam
3. Mason
4. Jacob
5. William
6. Ethan
7. Michael
8. Alexander
9. James
10. Daniel 

Girls

1. Emma
2. Olivia
3. Sophia
4. Isabella
5. Ava
6. Mia
7. Emily
8. Abigail
9. Madison
10. Charlotte

She's A Pistol And He's Tuf But Don't Mess With Vice Or Gospel Will Get You

     Nameberry (there's a website for everything) has used Social Security's list of brand new baby names to create its own list of the most outrageous baby names of 2013, with the number of children given each wacky name:

Girls

• Vanellope, 63 
• Burklee, 10 
• Pistol, 9 
• Happiness, 8 
• Pemberley, 8 
• Envie, 7 
• Prim, 7 
• Rarity, 7 
• Avaa, 6 
• Charlemagne, 6 
• Kinzington, 6 
• Prezlee, 6 
• Ransom, 5 
• Rebelle, 5 
• Sierraleone, 5 
• Siqi, 5 
• Snowy, 5 
• Temprince, 5 

Boys

• Rydder, 10 
• Jceion, 10 
• Hatch, 8 
• Tuf, 8 
• Lloyal, 7 
• Psalms, 7 
• Xzaiden, 7 
• Charger, 6 
• Forever, 6 
• Kyndle, 6 
• Power, 6 
• Warrior, 6 
• Gospel, 5 
• Kaptain, 5 
• Subaru, 5 
• Vice, 5