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<\/a>The Social Security Administration puts out the list of Top 500 baby names each year. Two names jumped up the charts this year: Major and Arya.<\/p>\n
“I have no doubt Major’s rising popularity as a boy’s name is in tribute to the brave members of the U.S. military,” Carolyn Colvin, acting Social Security commissioner, says in a statement. “Maybe we’ll see more boys named General in the future.”<\/p>\n
Pop culture unquestionably has an impact on the list. Arya is young girl\u2019s name on the HBO hit series Game of Thrones. Isabella became popular when the Twilight series was all-abuzz.<\/p>\n
Names with appealing sounds<\/strong><\/p>\n What are parents looking for in a name? No doubt, parents scour baby books or look through their family tree for a historical name, but according to Cleveland Evans, a member of the American Name Society, it\u2019s all about being unique.<\/p>\n “Typical parents want to give their child a name that everybody has heard of and everybody likes, but no one has \u2014 which is an absolutely impossible task,” he said.<\/p>\n Others say names have to sound \u201ccheery.\u201d<\/p>\n “The sound today that parents are looking for is very smooth and bright \u2014 very heavy on long vowels,” agrees Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard<\/i>. Examples are Liam and Mila, she adds. “Names with a similar sound, like Mia and Noah, you can count on thriving.”<\/p>\n Popular names from the past<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>