Unique Girl Names Climbing the Charts

The girl names Maliyah and Isla made the largest jump up the Social Security Administration's list of popular baby names for 2009. Each year the Social Security Administration releases the top baby names in the United States, and each year some names make a huge change while others hold steady. Girl names seem to be more prone to trends and changes than boy names do, and this year was no exception. Check out the biggest changes in rank for baby girl names!

Maliyah and Isla are Fastest Moving Girls Name

This year, the girl name Maliyah made an enormous jump -- it catapulted up 342 spots from 638 to 296. It's surely no coincidence that President Obama's elder daughter's name is Malia, which is another version of our top-moving name. Its popularity climb overshadows the top climber on the boy chart, Cullen, which jumped up 297 spots.

Maliyah is followed closely by the unique name Isla. Pronounced eye-lah, this name moved 273 spots from 619 to 346.

More Buzzworthy Girls Names

Other top movers on the girl chart are:

• Caylee (up 251 spots from 514 to 263)
• Kinley (up 214 spots from 665 to 451)
• Arabella (up 209 spots from 656 to 447)
• Adelyn (up 180 spots from 585 to 405).
  
• Interestingly, the similar name Adalyn was also a big climber -- it flew up 162 spots from 531 to 369.

Quite a few other names moved up, just not so far. Some notable examples are:

• Alice (up 69 spots from 327 to 258)
• Eliza (up 48 spots from 326 to 278)
• Sage (up 62 spots from 485 to 396)
• Eleanor (up 37 spots from 255 to 218).

Coasting Along

Some names retained their holds on their ranks from last year or only moved up or down a smidge.

• Ava is one name enjoying its high rank -- number 5 -- two years in a row
• Sofia held on to the 36 spot and Rylee stayed at 116.
  
• Chloe, which popped up one spot from 10 to 9
• Jade, which bumped up from 130 to 129
• Isabella, which gained the top spot in 2009 by bumping up from 2 to 1.
  
• Alivia, an alternate spelling of the traditional name Olivia, moved up 3 spots as did the classic name Juliana.

Names with a slight drop in popularity are Emma, which traded places with Isabella and dropped from 1 to 2; Brianna, which fell from 23 to 24 and Madison, which dropped from 6 to the 7 spot.

Crusing on Down

As with the biggest movers, the biggest "name drop" on the girl chart outdropped the one on the boy chart -- this time by a wide margin.

• Marely, which in 2008 was at the 334 spot, comes in at 851 in 2009 -- a drop of 517!
• Mylee (a drop of 420 from 433 to 853)
• Jaslene (down 294 from 376 to 670)
• Allisson (down 197 from 418 to 615)
  
• Haylie (down 145 from 499 to 644)
• Lindsay (down 143 from 381 to 524).

Plenty of other names also dropped rank, although the plunge wasn't quite as dramatic. Heather, for example, which clocked in at 485 in 2008 fell 73 spots to 558. Other examples are Casey (down 60 spots from 468 to 528), Danice (down 43 spot from 336 to 379) and Kyra (down 33 spots from 238 to 271).

For the most part, the most extreme movers on the girl chart are names that are different spellings of more common names. Girl baby names are commonly spelled differently in an attempt to make them more unique and special and that is certainly reflected in 2009's changes in popularity for girl names! Get more baby girl name ideas with unique spellings here!

Also check out: Unique Boy Names Climbing the Chart

More Baby Name Ideas:

Popular Girl Names of the 20th Century 

Top 100 Baby Names from Social Security Administration

Top Baby Names by Origins

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