BabyCenter's third annual online baby names survey reports on parents' attitudes and practices when choosing their child's name. And middle names are hotter than ever with 97 percent of parents using them. If moms and dads aren't choosing to honor family ties with the first name, the middle name is often used for that purpose. Individuality and strength are the top traits parents want to convey with a boy's name while individuality and femininity are the most desired traits for a girl's name . Parents' top reason for choosing a first name is that they simply like the name , and the top reason for a middle name is to honor a relative or friend .
Girls are easier to name than boys , according to the majority of parents.
More than 40 percent of parents think the name they select will contribute to the child's success in life . Almost half of all parents call their child by a nickname. Parents today are looking for names they like but that are not too trendy, causing a more rapid rise and descent in popularity of names than in the past. Names showing dramatic increases in popularity this year for girls are Kaylee, Madison, Sophia, Chloe, Cheyenne, and Isabella. Boy's names also rising rapidly in usage are Christian, Cameron, Logan, Mason, Colin, and Blake.