Emily, Jacob top baby name list

WASHINGTON -- When children born in 2005 head to kindergarten in a few years, a lot of them will be raising their hands when the teacher calls out ''Emily" or ''Jacob." In border states, it will be hard to miss José, Angel, and Mia.

For the 10th year running, Emily is the most popular name for infant girls in the United States, according to figures released for this Mother's Day by the Social Security Administration.

''The whole question was whether Emma was going to beat out Emily this time," said Cleveland Evans, a professor at Bellevue University in Nebraska and president of the American Names Society. Emma was number two on the list.

Biblical names dominate the boys' list. Jacob is the most popular, as it has been since 1999. Other top picks for boys are Michael, Joshua, and Matthew.

''There's a lot more men mentioned in the Bible than women," Evans said. Maybe that's why the girls' list includes so many nonbiblical names such as Madison.

New to the top 10 lists this year are Anthony at number 8 for boys and Ava at number 9 for girls.

For male twins, parents like to combine Jacob with Joshua, Matthew with Michael, and Daniel with David. The most popular combination for female twins was Hope and Faith.

The agency has compiled the 1,000 most popular names since 1997 and started listing twin names in 2004. Variations in the spelling of the same name are counted separately.

The top 10 for girls in 2005: Emily, Emma, Madison, Abigail, Olivia, Isabella, Hannah, Samantha, Ava, and Ashley.

For boys: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Andrew, Daniel, Anthony, Christopher, and Joseph.