John, Mary topped Social Security Administration list of boy, girl names in 1907

Ya gotta love the Social Security Administration. If you want to know the most popular girl's name for 2006, (It was Emily. Jacob was number one for boys) all you have to do is look on their Web site: www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/. 

In fact, you can access a list of the 1,000 most popular first names for each year starting in 1880 up through 2006. In 1891, the year my grandfather, Frank Hoy, was born, his first name ranked sixth. When my grandmother, Anna Schrader was born in 1911, her first name also sat in spot number six. 

Social Security has created the ranked lists based on card applications for each year. One hundred years ago, in 1907, the following were the top 10 names for boys:

1. John 

2. William 

3. James

4. George

5. Robert 

6. Charles 

7. Joseph 

8. Frank 

9. Edward 

10. Henry

The top 10 names for girls in 1907 were the following: 

1. Mary 

2. Helen 

3. Margaret 

4. Anna 

5. Ruth

6. Dorothy 

7. Elizabeth

8. Mildred 

9. Alice 

10. Marie 

My first name (which is Teresa and not Terry) was ranked 42nd in popularity the year I was born. In 2006, my name's popularity was down to 535th. C'est la vie! 

Until next time — Happy Ancestral Digging. Note this post first published online, September 28, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©28 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa Snyder