SOCIAL TREND REPORT – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  I have no idea whether this means anything, but I thought it interesting enough to pass on.  From AP:   

WASHINGTON (AP) — Noah sailed past Jacob to become the most popular baby name for boys in 2013, ending Jacob's 14-year run at the top. Sophia was the most popular baby name for girls for the third straight year.

The Social Security Administration announced the most popular baby names Friday. Noah was followed by Liam, Jacob, Mason and William. Sophia was followed by Emma, Olivia, Isabella and Ava.

The rise of Noah and Liam highlights a trend toward more smooth-sounding baby names, said Laura Wattenberg, creator of Babynamewizard.com.

"You compare Jacob with all its hard, punchy consonants, versus Noah and Liam, you can really see where style is heading," Wattenberg said.

She also noted that the most popular baby names aren't nearly as popular as they used to be. For example, a little more than 18,000 babies born last year were named Noah. In 1950, when James was No. 1, there were more than 86,000 newborns with that name.

About 21,000 newborns were named Sophia last year. In 1950, more than 80,000 were named Linda, the top name for girls that year.

"In the past, most parents were picking from a pretty well-defined set of names," Wattenberg said. "Literally for hundreds of years, the English royal names dominated. You had John and Mary and James and Elizabeth."

"Today," she said, "we get names everywhere."

Jacob first rose to No. 1 in 1999. In the 45 years before that, Michael was king for all but one.

There has been a lot more variety among the girls. Mary dominated the first half of the 20th century. But in the past two decades, Emily, Emma, Isabella and Jessica have all spent time at the top.

COMMENT:   Hard to figure out where some of this popularity is coming from.  I mean, Sophia is a beautiful name.  Is there a famous Sophia out there?  And what about Ava?  There was, of course, the movie star Ava Gardner, but she passed on decades ago. 

I can understand why Linda was so popular in 1950, as there was a hit song, "Linda," in the late 40s.

Noah?  Al Gore must be pleased.  "You see," he's probably thinking, "they know the country will be flooded by global warming."  Let Al imagine.

May 10, 2014