Jacob And Sophia Top 2012 Lists For Most Popular Baby Names

Chloe and Daniel are out! Elizabeth and Liam are in! At least, as far as Social Security's Top 10 lists of the most popular baby names for boys and girls in 2012. Among the boys, Jacob remains at the top of the list. It's held that spot since 1999, which is a good indication that there are a lot of Jacobs and Jakes in this country. Sophia is the top pick for last year's baby girls. In fact, six of the top ten girls names end in A, which suggests an ongoing trend there.

Here are the two Top 10 lists from SSA.gov.

Elizabeth and Liam secured spots in the Top 10s this year, edging out Chloe and Daniel. Elizabeth and Liam aren't the only names on the rise, either. Via Parade, SSA.gov calculated the change in popularity for names from 2011 to 2012 and listed the names that showed the greatest increase in popularity between the two years. For the guys, Major, Gael, Jase and Messiah topped the list. For the girls, Arya, Perla, Catalina and Elisa.

I'm going to guess that books had at least some influence there. Gael is a character from The Hunger Games. There's a character named Jase in the Mortal Instruments series and Arya is one of the Starks in the Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) series.

It's also interesting to note that Major is on the rise. That's one of the names that appeared on the recently posted list of banned names in New Zealand. Messiah is also on there.