LOS ANGELES, (PRNewswire) — According to the popular website BabyNames.com, Ava and Aidan were the top names for 2006. For the first time in five years, Madison slipped from the number one girl’s name to number four. On the boys’ side, rhyming names Aiden, Caden, Braden and Jaden continue to dominate the charts.
The BabyNames.com Top Names List is calculated from the favorite name lists of over a million site members for the year 2006.
“Celebrity culture always has an influence on naming trends,” says Jennifer Moss, founder and CEO of BabyNames.com, “but it seems like it has increased in recent years.”
Moss says the name Ava started becoming popular after celebrity couple Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe chose the name for their daughter in 1999. Other celeb parents who chose the name Ava include X-Man Hugh Jackman and TV star Heather Locklear.
But if you think the Federlines were the first celeb couple to go with the name Jayden, you are mistaken. Jaden (and its various spellings) first started appearing on BabyNames.com lists after Will Smith and Jada Pinkett chose the name for their son back in 1998.
“It usually takes 3-4 years for a new name to make it from the celebrities to the masses,” says Moss, “and that’s only if the names are not too wild!”
THE BABYNAMES.COM MOST POPULAR NAMES for 2006
BOYS GIRLS
1. AIDAN/AIDEN/ADEN = 1. AVA +
2. CADEN/KADEN = 2. ABIGAIL +
3. BRADEN/BRAYDEN/BRAEDEN + 3. KAELYN/CAILYN +
4. JADEN/JAYDEN + 4. MADISON –
5. ETHAN – 5. EMMA –
6. CONNOR/CONNER + 6. ISABELLA +
7. ADDISON + 7. BAILEY +
8. RILEY + 8. CHLOE –
9. CALEB – 9. OLIVIA +
10. LOGAN – 10. HANNAH +
11. HAYDEN – 11. ISABELLE/ISABEL +
12. DYLAN – 12. GRACE +
13. NOAH – 13. ELLA +
14. AVERY + 14. ABBY/ABBIE +
15. JACOB – 15. CADENCE –
16. RYAN – 16. ALEXIS –
17. CAMERON – 17. TAYLOR –
18. ALEXANDER + 18. PAIGE +
19. AARON + 19. HAILEY –
20. TRISTAN + 20. EMILY –
+ Increased position from 2005
– Decreased position from 2005
= Same rank as 2005