Usa’s Most Popular Baby Names: Meanings and Origins Explained

The US Social Security Administration publishes a list of the most popular baby names registered each year.  The latest available data is for the year 2008.  Here are the Top Ten boys’ and girls’ names (starting with ‘1’ as the most popular) and their meanings.

Boys names

1. Jacob              = supplanter, usurper

The name ‘Jacob’ is of Hebrew origin, and it means one who supplants, displaces, or holds on to the heels of another.  The Jacob of the Old Testament was the son of Isaac and Rebekah.  He was the second-born twin brother of Esau, and was said to have emerged from the womb holding on to the heel of his brother.  Jacob usurped his brother’s birthright by pretending to be Esau and receiving their father’s deathbed blessing and thus the inheritance that belonged to the older twin.

     2.   Michael          = one who resembles God

‘Michael’ is also a biblical name of Hebrew origin, and it means one who resembles God.  (Technically, its meaning is actually a question, ‘Who resembles God?’, in other words, no-one can really resemble God.)  Michael was the name of one of the seven archangels according to Hebrew tradition, but he is the only one referred to as an archangel in the bible.  Historically, Michael is a common name for emperors and kings.

   3.   Ethan              = long-lived     or         strong

Once again this is a name of Hebrew origin, ‘Ethan’ means ‘long-lived’ or ‘firmness’, and therefore by extension it means ‘enduring’, ‘strong’, ‘optimistic’.  The name appears a number of times in the bible, and there are suggestions that it was the name of a cymbal-payer in the court of the Hebrew King David.

    4.   Joshua            = God is salvation