Federal Data: Noah and Sophia top list of most-popular baby names for 2013

Noah took over the top spot for most-popular baby boy names in America last year, finally bumping Jacob and Michael, which have swapped the crown back and forth since 1961, according to federal data.
Sophia ranked as the most popular baby name for girls in 2013, holding first place for the third consecutive year. The only new name on the top-10 list was Daniel, which has bounced in and out of the highest rankings.

(Courtesy of Social Security Administration)

The Social Security Administration began tracking the most popular baby names in 1997, creating a list that dated back to 1880. Parents provide the data by applying for their children’s Social Security cards at birth.
The agency has created an online tool that allows users to search for the popularity of names by year, name, state and other criteria.  It also published a chart showing the top five names for boys and girls dating back to 1914. Click on either of those links to find out how your name has fared over the years.
The Social Security Administration says the annual lists show how pop culture affects name trends. For instance, Jayceon and Daleyza, both of which apply to rising TV personalities, showed the largest increase in popularity last year.
Jayceon “The Game” Taylor is a rapper and star of VH1′s reality series “Marrying the Game,” while Daleyza is the name of a character on the Spanish-language series “Larrymania,” which airs on mun2. 
In 2012, the fastest riser for girls was Arya, the name of a character in the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”

Culled from the Washington post