“Sophia” and “Jacob” took home the top spots once again on the Social Security Administration’s annual list of popular baby names, according to the Associated Press. However, some of the names suggest great expectations from parents when their child gets older.
Among the fast-rising baby names for boys were Major, King, and Messiah. Analysts can explain the name “Major” but find the other two quite peculiar.
"I have no doubt Major's rising popularity as a boy's name is in tribute to the brave members of the U.S. Military and maybe we'll see more boys named General in the future," suggested acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin.
"We've pretty much run out of presidential names, all the Jeffersons and Jacksons and Madisons, so we're moving on to the aristocracy, I guess, or to the military," said author of “The Baby Name Wizard” and found of Babynameswizard.com Laura Wattenberg.
As for the other names, “You don’t get a lot of Messiahs,” said Wattenberg.
Jennifer Moss, author of "The One-in-a-Million Baby Name Book" and founder of Babynames.com, warn parents to stay clear of "expectation names, like Justice and Chastity."
"We feel that it kind of puts an undue pressure on the child when you use those kinds of grandiose or puritynames," explained Moss.
Chastity previously appeared in the top 1,000 for about 20 years until it didn’t make the cut in 1994. Justice made its rise back to the top 1,000 in 1992 after being of the list for a little over a century.
Moss says Jacob is a common name because it gives parents a lot of what they want.
"It's easy to pronounce, and it's easy to spell. It's a solid manly name," she said. "It's a biblical name, and biblical names are always in style."
Jacob has won 14 years in a row. Sophia has won two years in a row.