First of all, it’s so permanent. Naming a child can determine a lot of things in his or her life. Then there’s the problem of two parents agreeing on the same baby name. And it has to sound good with your last name. For example, last names that begin with vowel sounds often don’t flow well with first names that end in a vowel–a dilemma or the woman who picked out the perfect names long before she met her husband.

Sometimes parents might decide for or against a given name because of the nicknames associated with it (“If we name her Elizabeth we can call her Ellie”). There are in-laws to consider, and older children to contend with (“No, Johnny, we are not naming your baby sister ‘Jack’”). And some parent consider the names of their nieces and nephews.

Names are also generational (remember the girl in elementary school who had an “old fashioned” name?). Some of those grandma names are back. In fact, four of the top 20 girls’ names were on the list 100 years ago in the same form or a variation of it, as were three of the boys’ names.

Maybe you want to avoid the most popular names last year–or you want to get some ideas. Perhaps you just want to see where your child’s name ranked. Here is the list of the top 20 Babies Online member baby names for 2008. And when your little one is born this year, tell us what name you picked out–it will become a part of our 2009 data!