What baby names say about parents

Baby names continue to become more diverse – and perhaps more costly - and stressful. The top baby names for 2010 were a mix of old and new, choosing that perfect name can take time.

According to BabyCenter.com , the top 10 boys' names were: Aiden; Jacob; Jackson; Ethan; Jayden; Noah; Logan; Caden; Lucas and Liam.

The top girls' names were: Sophia; Isabella; Olivia; Emma; Chloe; Ava; Lily; Madison; Addison, and Abigail.

The Wall Street Journal reports that sociologists and name researchers have noticed higher levels of angst among parents than ever before as they try to choose that perfect name. Family names and religious standbys are out the window more and more, while uniqueness is the name of the game.

Books, software programs, Web sites are all sources of ideas. So are professional baby-name consultants. The Wall Street Journal said Denise McCombie, 37, of California spent $475 to have a numerologist to test the name Leah Marie to see if it had positive associations. She lucked out when it did.

Another couple, Sean and Dawn Mistretta of Charlotte, N.C., hired consultants who considered the phonetic elements, popularity and ethnic and linguistic origins of names before sending a 15-page list of suggestions. They polled doctors and nurses at the hospital before finally settling on a name.

Why all the angst? Some may be because of the overabundance of choices and information, including about 80 baby-name books published during the last three years.

LiveScience.com said what a baby's name says about the parents' tastes and background has increased over the past 25 years as baby names became more diverse and numerous.

Laura Wattenberg, author of the book “The Baby Name Wizard,” said if someone today had 10 guesses to get somebody's name they'd likely fail. That wasn't the case 100 years ago. She analyzed baby-name statistics and calculated a measure called Shannon entropy, which communicates the information contained in a message, such as a choice of name.

The more diverse choices and possible messages, the more information the message will contain. That means a name today carries much more meaning than a name 25 or 50 years ago.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego University and author of “The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement,” told LiveScience it is also part of a growing shift toward individualism that has taken place.

LiveScience also reported that the name a child has can also have an impact on a child that will last into adulthood. Northwestern University's David Figlio said, considering how much attention people pay to names, it makes sense that the name chosen may influence how people think of themselves.

Selecting a girly name for a boy can lead to behavioral problems. Unique baby names may also present a hardship.

There is also a socioeconomic implication. Figlio said children with names seen as coming from poorly educated parents tend to do worse in school and are more likely to be considered learning disabled.

As far as uniqueness goes, there still are some ties to tradition. Many of the top boy's names last year were not necessarily unique, while some of the girls also had rings of familiarity.

According to the Social Security Administration, the top five US baby names in 2009 for a boy were Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Alexander and William. For a girl they were Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Sophia and Ava.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.