The big news from the United States Social Security Administration‘s list of most popular American names this week isn’t just that for the first time after 14 years, Jacob finally got dethroned as the #1 boy name. Nope! Beyond the fact that Noah clawed to number 1 this year is what can be learned from the fastest climbing names: that they reflect the changing demographic in the US.
This year, the name Daleyza jumped from number 3,130 on the list to No. 585! Daleyza is the name of the young daughter of Larry Hernandez, a singer who stars in a mun2 Spanish-language reality TV show called Larrymania.
Hmmm.
Population statisticians predict that by 2050, the Hispanic/Latino-American population, Asian or of two or more races will be the majority of the 17 and under population in the United States.
“In the past, most parents were picking from a pretty well-defined set of names,” Laura Wattenberg, creator of Babynamewizard.com said. “Literally for hundreds of years, the English royal names dominated. You had John and Mary and James and Elizabeth.”
Today, she said, “we get names everywhere.”
RealityTV is a hot spot for picking names.
For boys, Jayceon, a name of two hip hop artists, jumped 845 spots to #206 on the list. Popular rapper “The Game” real name is Jayceon and was featured on a VH1 reality TV show for a few seasons.
“Names have more widely become seen as a personal brand, a statement of individual style and personality, and so people are looking for a name that’s different from what other people have,” Pamela Redmond Satran, co-founder of Nameberry.com told AP. “In the 1950s, everybody was looking to blend in.”
Among the other top risers for girls: Marjorie, Lennon and Jurnee. Jurnee Smollett-Bell is an actress who starred in the TV show Friday Night Lights and currently stars in Parenthood on ABC.
Among the other top risers for boys: Milan, Atlas, Jayse and Duke.
Read more about the names from the Associated Press coverage HERE.