Top Baby Names 2011: From Jacob to Sophia [List]

Jacob takes the title as the top boys name for the 13th year in a row, but there are other male names that have gone up the list over the past year, including Mason, which is expected to be influenced by Kourtney Kardashian's decision to name her son Mason last year. 

It seems the popularity of names are heavily influenced by religion and reality television. The girls name Briella went up 394 spots in the past year since Briella Calafiore started starring in the reality TV series Jerseylicious, according to the Associated Press. 

The fastest rising boys name was Brantley, which jumped 416 spots in the top 1000. The popularity of the name can be attributed to Brantley Gilbert who has the number one country hit, Country Must Be Country Wide.

The yearly trends in popular baby names seem to be more volatile for girls, with the top spot changing on a year-to-year basis. Isabella has held the top spot for 2-years before being knocked off by Sophia in 2011. 

Laura Wattenberg, creator of the website, babynamewizard.com, told the Associated Press that the trends are a fossil record of our culture.

It shows what we're paying attention to, what we're thinking about, she said. Today, you can't walk through a supermarket without learning more than you hoped to know about the Kardashian family. That's just reality, she said.  

In reference to the religious influence on names, Wattenberg said, The traditional biblical names were New Testament names -- John, James and Mary and Elizabeth. Today, the hot names are all names from the Old testament precisely because they were neglected for so many generations.

The popularity of names have been identified through Social Security card applications that have occurred in the U.S since 1879. The administration has put the names into different categories including, Popular name by decade, Popular name by State, Popular name for twins, and Popular names by U.S territories.

The top five male names that gained popularity in 2011 were: Brantley, Iker, Maximiliano, Zaiden and Kamden. 

The top five female names that gained popularity were: Briella, Angelique, Aria, Mila and Elsie. 

The top 20 baby names of 2011

1. Sophia

2. Isabella

3. Emma

4. Olivia

5. Ava

6. Emily

7. Abigail

8. Madison

9. Mia

10. Chloe

11. Elizabeth

12. Ella

13. Addison

14. Natalie

15. Lily

16. Grace

17. Samantha

18. Avery

19. Sofia

20. Aubrey

Boys

1. Jacob

2. Mason

3. William

4. Jayden

5. Noah

6. Michael

7. Ethan

8. Alexander

9. Aiden

10. Daniel

11. Anthony

12. Matthew

13. Elijah

14. Joshua

15. Liam

16. Andrew

17. James

18. David

19. Benjamin

20. Logan