Baby Names for Your Writing

Watching how names change is fascinating. I found a website that gives baby names -- both top names for each year, and tracking the incidence of a particular name over a number of years. How fun! This is a great reference site for your period stories, in which you can verify that your character names are consistent with the time.

Source: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

BOYS

1900:
John  /  William  /  James  /  George  /  Charles 
Robert  /  Joseph  /  Frank  /  Edward  /  Henry

1950:
James  /  Robert  /  John  /  Michael  /  David
William  /  Richard  /  Thomas  /  Charles  /  Gary

2000:
Jacob  /  Michael  /  Matthew  /  Joshua  /  Christopher 
Nicholas  /  Andrew  /  Joseph  /  Daniel  /  Tyler

2011:
Jacob  /  Mason  /  William  /  Jayden  /  Noah
Michael  /  Ethan  /  Alexander  /  Aiden  /  Daniel

GIRLS

1900:
Mary  /  Helen  /  Anna  /  Margaret  /  Ruth 
Elizabeth  /  Florence  /  Ethel  /  Marie  /  Lillian  /  Annie

1950:
Linda  /  Mary  /  Patricia  /  Barbara  /  Susan
Nancy  /  Deborah  /  Sandra  /  Carol  /  Kathleen

2000:
Emily  /  Hannah  /  Madison  /  Ashley  /  Sarah
Alexis  /  Samantha  /  Jessica  /  Elizabeth  /  Taylor

2011:
Sophia  /  Isabella  /  Emma  /  Olivia  /  Ava
Emily  /  Abigail  /  Madison  /  Mia  /  Chloe