Unique Boy Names Climbing the Charts

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Written by Monica Beyer

Cullen and Jax were the boy names that had the biggest jump in popularity, according to the Social Security Administration's list of popular baby names for 2009. Every year, the Social Security Administration releases the most popular names in the United States. And every year we can see how a particular name changes in popularity. What boy baby names had the biggest jumps, and which names took a dive? Which names held the same rank two years in a row, or only moved a spot or two? Read on for what we found out -- you may be surprised!

Cullen is Fastest Rising Boys Name

It's a fact -- the Twilight books and films have taken American pop culture by storm and its influence is not only seen in fashion and merchandise but in -- you guessed it -- baby names. What is the baby boy name with the largest climb on the Social Security Administration's popular name list?

Cullen, the surname of the eerily beautiful vampire family. Hands down, this boy name made its case by rocketing up the chart and moving 297 spots from 782 in 2008 to 485 in 2009. It can be no mere coincidence that the franchise's popularity has inspired parents all over the US to name their newborn boys Cullen.

More Buzzworthy Boy Baby Names

The other boy names that were tops in movement were:

Jax, which soared up 266 spots from 692 to 426
King, which moved up 248 spots from 710 to 462
Emmett which cruised 215 spots from 547 to 332
Colt, which moved up 164 spots from 534 to 370
Braylen, which climbed 162 spots from 574 to 412.

Some moderate movers on the chart were:

Declan (up 38 spots from 346 to 308)
Silas (up 56 spots from 310 to 254)
Beckett (up 66 spots from 479 to 413)
Jude (up 41 spots from 223 to 182).

A few names that leaped into the top 50 were:

Liam (up 26 spots from 75 to 49)
Carter (up 15 spots from 65 to 50)
Levi (up 28 spots from 116 to 88)
Oliver (up 20 spots from 118 to 98).

Boy Names Holding Steady

The top baby name in 2009 was Jacob (incidentally also the name of another popular Twilight character) and it continues to dominate the top spot -- in fact, it's been number one for 10 solid years running. The other names that didn't budge from 2008 to 2009 were:

Brenden
Christian
David
Khalil
Lukas
Myles
Samuel
Tyler
Vincent
Zane

Several names moved either up or down in popularity, but not by much -- Alexander climbed 2 spots from 6 to 4, Ethan popped up 1 spot from 3 to 2 and Elijah went from 21 to 22. Michael dropped from 3 to 2, James went from 17 to 18 and Joshua went from 6 from 4.

Boys Names Declining in Popularity

Just as several names took huge jumps, quite a few leaped the opposite direction. The name Alvin lands in the bottom spot in 2009 in this category, diving from 437 on the list to 570 -- a drop of 133 spots. The second biggest descent belongs to the name Marc, which fell 106 spots from 454 to 560. And despite the rampant popularity of the Jonas Brothers, the boy name Jonas took the third biggest drop, falling 105 spots to 379 from 254.

Rounding out the rest of the names that decreased the most in popularity in 2009 are:

Isiah (down 91 spots from 443 to 534)
Brett (down 80 spots from 311 to 391)
Terry (down 77 spots from 477 to 554)
Brodie (down 69 spots from 421 to 490).

Some of the other fallen names are Cory (down 41 spots from 459 to 500), Dayton (down 35 spots from 486 to 512), Dillon (down 28 spots from 264 to 292), Mitchell (down 24 spots from 335 to 359) and Drew (down 28 spots from 244 to 272).

When you break down the popularity chart and determine which names are rising and which are falling it can be easy to spot trends as well as those names that are classics and never fall too far out of favor with new parents. It's fun to see how your favorite names stack up each year and can inspire you to name your own baby.