The U.S. Social Security Administration recently released data on the most popular baby names of 2006. Without looking anywhere else on this page, can you guess what the #1 names were?

If you're stumped, try thinking back to the 2005 list. Why? Because the top names -- in fact, the top three names, for both genders -- stayed exactly the same:

Boys
1. Jacob
2. Michael
3. Joshua

Girls
1. Emily
2. Emma
3. Madison

It's like they won gold, silver and bronze all over again. :)

These six names retained the same rank from 2005 to 2006, but the number of babies who were given these names has gone down (...even as the total number of babies born in the U.S. has gone up). The names, therefore, have less of a choke hold on the coveted top spots than they did in 2005. Here were the differences:

Jacob: 25,664 (babies born in 2005) -> 24,418 (babies born in 2006)
Michael: 23,626 -> 22,220
Joshua: 23,067 -> 21,875

Emily: 23,813 -> 21,118
Emma: 20,237 -> 18,838
Madison: 19,452 -> 18,395

The rest of the names on both the male and female top ten lists were jostled around a bit. Here's how they ranked for 2006, and, in parentheses, how far they've gone up or down in rank since 2005:

Boys
4. Ethan (+1)
5. Matthew (-1)
6. Daniel (+1)
7. Christopher (+2)
8. Andrew (-2)
9. Anthony (-1)
10. William (+1)

Girls
4. Isabella (+2)
5. Ava (+4)
6. Abigail (-2)
7. Olivia (-2)
8. Hannah (-1)
9. Sophia (+2)
10. Samantha (-2)

Joseph and Ashley had been on the top ten lists of 2005, but they were bumped downward in 2006 to make way for newbies William and Sophia. The biggest jump was made by Ava, which went from #9 in 2005 to #5 in 2006 and will probably climb even higher for 2007.

What about the rest of the top names? Here are #11 through #25:

Boys
11. Joseph (-1)
12. Alexander
13. David
14. Ryan
15. Noah (+8)
16. James (+1)
17. Nicholas (-2)
18. Tyler (-2)
19. Logan (+7)
20. John (-2)
21. Christian (+1)
22. Jonathan (-3)
23. Nathan (-3)
24. Benjamin (+1)
25. Samuel (-4)

Girls
11. Elizabeth (+1)
12. Ashley (-2)
13. Mia (+4)
14. Alexis (-1)
15. Sarah
16. Natalie (+2)
17. Grace (-3)
18. Chloe (+1)
19. Alyssa (-3)
20. Brianna
21. Ella (+2)
22. Taylor (+2)
23. Anna (-1)
24. Lauren (-3)
25. Hailey (+1)

The only major changes between the top 25 names of 2005 and 2006 were that Logan replaced Dylan on the boys' list and Hailey replaced Kayla for girls. Overall, the biggest jump was made by Noah, which shot up from #23 in 2005 to #15 in 2006 and (like Ava) is set to rise even further.