So what’s in a name? The name parents pick to bless, or in some cases curse, their new baby with can be a daunting task.
As you may know, my name is Rick, but that is not my legal name. I have no problem with Rick. After 60-plus years, it kind of grows on you.
My legal name is where the curse part comes into play. I have even checked into changing my legal name to Rick. After considering the expense and hurdles one has to jump through to change their legal name, I decided to stick with the one Mom and Dad supposedly blessed me with.
The name parents choose for the children may be in honor of a family member or a tribute to their family heritage.
When I think back to how Mary and I came up with names, I draw a blank. Our firstborn is Nathan, but I’m not sure where that one came from. Second born is Emily. Again, I have no clue as to why. And the third Peterson child was named Jenna. I think that was the name of one of the characters on the popular TV show, “Dallas,” at the time.
So why all this name stuff? Well, because the Social Security Administration released the 2021 list of the most popular boys’ and girls’ names that Minnesota parents chose to name their babies last year.
In the interest of gender fairness, I flipped a coin to see which gender I list first, and the girls won the coin flip.
Top five girls’ names are:
# 1 Charlotte
# 2 Olivia
# 3 Evelyn
# 4 Emma
# 5 Nora
For the boys, the top five names are:
# 1 Oliver
# 2 Henry
# 3 Theodore
# 4 Liam
# 5 Owen
The Social Security Administration began compiling the baby name lists in 1997, with names dating back to 1880.
At the time of a child’s birth, parents supply the name to the agency when applying for a child’s Social Security card, so the agency has become America’s database for the most popular baby names.