The 1960s brought us baby names such as April and Sunshine, and naming new Americans has never been the same.

So when Sunday Rose Kidman Urban was born this week, the baby of an actress and a country western singer, news of her distinctive name created only a small stir. While many parents still hew to traditional names, U.S. babies now are tagged with an ever-increasing diversity of names for which the inspirations range from the calendar to languages from afar.

The top 10 baby names from 1950 look nothing like today. Here’s the list from 1950, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration:

Most popular boy/girl baby names in 1950:

1. James / Linda
2. Robert / Mary
3. John / Patricia
4. Michael / Barbara
5. David / Susan
6. William / Nancy
7. Richard / Deborah
8. Thomas / Sandra
9. Charles / Carol
10. Gary / Kathleen

Here’s the list from last year:

1. Jacob / Emily
2. Michael / Isabella
3. Ethan / Emma
4. Joshua / Ava
5. Daniel / Madison
6. Christopher / Sophia
7. Anthony / Olivia
8. William / Abigail
9. Matthew / Hannah
10. Andrew / Elizabeth

The name Mary had a long go, staying at No. 1 baby girl name from the 1880s through the 1950s, while John was one of the top five boy names during that same period. Parental preference for Michael took off in the 1950s, holding strong to this day.

The diversity in U.S. baby names has exploded since the 1950s. Back then, a quarter of all boys and girls got one of the top 10 baby names, according to Laura Wattenberg, author of “The Baby Name Wizard” (Broadway, 2005). In recent times, the top 10 names account for only one tenth of all baby names, Wattenberg writes. Her blog has an interactive tool that displays the historical popularity of thousands of names from the 1880s to now.

When it comes to contemporary inspiration, the days of the week are just one of the everyday resources from which folks snag new baby names.

Celebrities especially seem to reach far and wide lately, with baby names ranging from fruits (Apple Blythe Alison Martin, born to Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin) to colors (Fuchsia Catherine Sumner, born to Sting and Frances Tomelty) to plants (Poppy Honey Oliver, born to Jamie Oliver and Juliette Norton.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 5:49 am and is filed under Babies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.