The most popular modern baby names haven't exactly left tradition behind. It's not like parents are naming their infants "laser" or "bandwidth." In fact, many of today's most chosen child names, including the most popular modern girl names, reveal a distinctly traditional streak. This article will look at the ten most popular girls names of the past ten years, as listed by the Social Security Administration, explore their meanings and when they came into vogue among parents.
10) Ashley - A two part ("aesc" and "leah") Old English name pairing that means "dweller near the ash tree forest," Ashley originated as a boy's name in Great Britain, but soared in popularity in the seventies as a modern girl's name in the US.
9) Elizabeth - The popularity of this name goes back over a hundred years, as it was the sixth most popular name for girls back in the 1900's. It's faded a little bit since then, but this Hebrew-derived baby girl name, which means "God is my oath," remains popular decade after decade.
8) Samantha - It's thought that this feminine variation on the biblical male name Samuel, which means "name of God," was first introduced in the southern United States. It gained popularity in the 50s and has only slid slightly from its mid-80's peak as a popular modern girl name.
7) Isabella - a Spanish version of the perennially popular Elizabeth ("God is My Oath") was itself an often-used name back in the late 1800's. It didn't rank as high throughout most of the 1900s, but gained steam in the 1980s and exploded in the 90s, becoming one of the most popular modern baby names, with no end to its climb in sight -- except maybe the number one spot.
6) Abigail - this is another modern baby name that was relatively popular decades ago, particularly in the early 1900s. Derived from the Hebrew name Avigayil, meaning "father of exaltation," this name has only recently started to descend from the list of most beloved modern girl names after reaching unparalleled peaks in the mid 1990s.
5) Hannah - one of most frequently chosen baby girl names in the 1880s, Hannah, a name that means gracious and full of mercy, never really suffered the low points of many of the names on this list, then went on to steadily gain traction every decade on from the 1960s, reaching the top 10 in the mid 1990s.
4) Olivia - is it a coincidence that parents in record numbers began naming their daughters Olivia a decade or so after Olivia-Newton John entranced the nation as the star of movies like "Grease?" Maybe everyone just decided they liked Olive Trees again, huh? In any case, Olivia is a wildly popular modern baby name.
3) Emma - the third most popular female name of the 1880s rode a sideways "C" curve through much of the 1900s, but made a stunning comeback starting around the 1990s to find itself back at the third most popular modern baby name for girls.
2) Madison - This modern girl name goes way back to the Middle Ages, from the always-awesome (who wrote this article?) boy's name Matthew, which got shortened to "Mad" as a nickname, then extended to its current form for baby girls. It barely registered on the charts in the last century until a sudden surge began in the 1980s.
1) Emily - a top 100 name in the 1880s, stayed in the top 250 throughout the 1900s, climbing a steep path towards the top starting in the 1960s, it reached the top spot in 1996 and held onto it until 2007, more than enough to give it the crown as the most popular modern girl name of the last decade.