Baby Names: Top Choices in 2012

A popular list for the top 100 baby names in 2012 included five that ended in "A" at the top of the list for girls and four that started with the letter "J" at the top of the list for boys.

The exclusive list, compiled by BabyCenter.com, reportedly comes from "nearly half-a-million parents who shared their baby's name with us in 2012."

For girls, the top five names were Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Isabella and Eva. Zoe topped Chloe and joined Lily, Mia and Madison in rounding out the top 10.

For boys, the top five names were Aiden, Jackson, Ethan, Liam and Mason. Rounding out the top 10 were Noah, Lucas, Jacob, Jayden and Jack.

As for William and Michael? They hold spots 15 and 16, respectively, following Logan, Ryan, Caleb and Benjamin.

"Names from two generations back are meaningful and retro and have a cool factor," BabyCenter.com's Linda Murray told USA Today.

Florida's own state list, based on Social Security data, is not yet available. But in 2011, the top five baby girl names in Florida were Isabella, Sophia, Emma, Olivia and Emily. The top five baby boy names in Florida last year were Jayden, Jacob, Daniel, Noah and Michael.

Brandon Patch in May 2011 published a guide for finding top baby names and interesting tidbits using the online Social Security Administration (SSA) database, from 1880 to 2010.

• See Most Popular Baby Names: Mining the Social Security Administration Database

The database has since been updated with top names for 2011. It notes that the top 10 names for girls were Sophia, Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Madison, Mia and Chloe.

For boys, the top 10 names in 2011 were Jacob, Mason, William, Jayden, Noah, Michael, Ethan, Alexander, Aiden and Daniel.

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