My daughters were born in the early – mid ’90s, so it’s not really relevant to me but it’s still interesting to see how the most popular names people chose for their babies changes over time.
The most popular names of my generation are no longer popular with today’s parents.
When I was born, the top five boys names for American babies were:
Michael, David, James, John and Robert.
The top five girls names in America that year were:
Lisa, Michelle, Jennifer, Kimberly and Melissa.
At the same time, the top five boys names in Japan back then were:
Makoto, Hiroshi, Osamu, Naoki and Tetsuya.
For Japanese baby girls, it was:
Akemi, Mayumi, Yumiko, Keiko and Kumiko (names ending with ο½ε (-ko) used to very popular for girls in Japan…now, not so much).
These days, I guess those names are considered “old-fashioned” in both America and Japan.
In America, the top five boys names for babies born in 2010 were:
Aiden, Liam, Noah, Jackson and Ethan.
For American baby girls:
Sophia, Charlotte, Ava, Addison and Olivia.
This year (2010), the most popular baby names for boys in Japan were:
Ren, Hiroto, Souta, Yuuma and Sora.
For Japanese baby girls in 2010:
Yua, Yui, Aoi, Hina and Riko.
Tokyo Five 
See for the UK it has taken a bit of a shift, the more traditional names have become popular again.
Here are the top five for boys and girls in 2010
Boys: Jack, Harry, Alfie,Thomas,Oliver
Girls: Olivia,Ruby,Emily,Grace,Lily
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I don’t think I’ve ever met a single person in America (when I lived there) with any of those ten names. Especially “Alfie”, to me, seems quite unusual.
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That’s interesting. I was born in 1979 and my middle name is Mayumi. The girl names now look so short, not that there is anything wrong with that π
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You have a Japanese middle name? Are you “half” Japanese?
I think the name Mayumi is more popular now than the others that were popular years ago.
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