Called by Name

Baby names’ popularity comes and goes, but yours is always No. 1 with God.

Isabella and Jacob were the most popular baby names of 2009, according to the Social Security Administration. Isabella’s popularity brought 2008’s winner, Emma, down to No. 2. Jacob is No. 1 for the 11th year in a row.

“Many patterns of recent years continued,” the SSA reported. “Religious names continue to be very popular, including the girl names Heaven at No. 275 and Nevaeh (Heaven spelled backwards) at No. 34. Messiah was No. 663 for boys. An extraordinary 3.7% of the Top 1,000 boy names rhymed with the word ‘maiden,’ and names associated with cities, states or countries were popular, particularly for girls.” The Social Security website (SocialSecurity.gov) has lists of baby names for each year since 1880. The Bible has some wise words about names. God says, “I have called you by name: You are mine” (Isaiah 43: 1). And Philippians 4:3 refers to those “whose names are in the book of life.”

Whatever your name’s ranking is on the SSA list, it’s No. 1 with God.