My question about the social security list (middle names??)

[name]Do[/name] Middle Names count? I know a million babies with the middle name [name]Michael[/name], but I don’t know many with the first name [name]Michael[/name]. I know its #2 on the SS list, but is it just first names or middle, too?

My understanding is they only count the first name, but I am no authority on this! I wish they would compile a middle name list too – so many people go by their middle names, afterall. It would be really interesting if there were a compiled list of the most popular names taking into account both first and middle names.

Oh, good question! We will have to hope [name]Michael[/name] is tuning in - and Elsabea in the UK (who I think has a fairy godmother in the Office of National Statistics). I had always assumed that middle names were included in the counts, but now I am not so sure.
Some kind soul is bound to let us know, though.x

I looked up [name]Rose[/name] for a sample, because I think [name]Grace[/name] is common for a first name also.

[name]Rose[/name] is #344, and the lowest it has gotten is 362 in 2003. It seems stable and slowly declining now, as opposed to a few generations of somewhat rapid decline. It is not proof positive, but it looks like the use of [name]Rose[/name] here is only as a first name. Since I don’t know any Roses now, but know of one born about 1985 (the daughter of my boss in 1995 was about 10), I don’t know if this indicates uncommon usage in the first slot, or a fairly complete absence of usage in the first slot kept as high on the chart as it is by being overused in the middle.

My expectation is that this is a list of first names alone. I think mixing it up would mix people up! I hope we can find out for sure.

[name]Edit[/name]: I know some middle-name Michaels also, but this could be regional or an effect of being named after father. Some people still do this instead of avoid overused names from the recent past, and since there were so many Michaels before, since they have grown, have some of them namesakes.

Sorry to get off topic, but does anyone know if there is an equivalent to the Social Security list in Australia?

I found this. Is what you were looking for? I’m not sure if there are other sites out there this was the first I found that looked right. [name]Hope[/name] I helped :slight_smile:

Thanks so much! Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply, I forgot I had even asked the question!

That website you found unfortunately only shows births in the state of New South [name]Wales[/name]. I have found another website though that has the top 100 boys and girls names in Australia for 2009 so far - I might post them in another thread in case people are interested!

I wasn’t quite sure if that was right. I’m glad you found what you where looking for. Thank you for posting the names :slight_smile: