Social Security Administration Releases List of Most Popular Baby Names for 2009

In 2009, Isabella dethroned Emma as the top name for baby girls while Jacob held on to being the most popular boy's name for the 11th year in a row.

The Social Security Administration began compiling name lists in 1879, and each year reveals the previous year's most popular names. As it has happened many times in the past, many of 2009's top names were influenced by pop culture.

The boy's name that made the largest jump on the list was Cullen, the name of the lead character in the "Twilight" series of books and movies. Cullen's girlfriend in the series is Bella, which is short for Isabella, they year's most popular name. The fastest rising girl's name in 2009 was Maliyah, an alternate spelling of the name of President Barack Obama's daughter Malia.

But once the popularity has peaked and parents think celebrity-inspired names are passe, they are quick to drop them. Two of the names with the biggest drops last year were Mylee and Miley (think Miley Cyrus). Lindsay, as in actress Lindsay Lohan, is also dropping quickly in popularity, as is Jonas, as in the Jonas brothers. Barack, as in Barack Obama, is slowly moving up the list. In 2009, there were 69 Baracks born.

Religious names continued to fare well in 2009. Amongst the most popular names were Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards) for girls, and Messiah for boys.

The top 10 most popular girls' names of 2009 were (in order): Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Abigail, Chloe and Mia.

The 10 most popular boys' name, also in order, are: Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, William, Joshua, Daniel, Jayden, Noah and Anthony.

The SSA will release on May 15 a list of the decades most popular baby names, as well as state specific name data.