While the phrase “popular baby names” might make you cringe, there’s really no reason to these days. There’s so much variety and diversity among all baby names that even if you pick the most popular name around, your baby girl or boy probably won’t meet more than a handful of other kids with the same name. You can start your search at the very top of the charts, with popular baby boy names like Jacob, Ethan, and Daniel, and popular baby girl names like Emily, Ava, and Sophia. We’ve also sorted our popular baby names by origin, so you can easily find the most popular baby names from cultures like African, Indian, Russian, and more. When you find a name you like, click on it to find out more about meaning and just how popular the name actually is. You can also use our innovative baby namer tool to get more inspiration -- just select a few names you like, and our tool will provide more suggestions based on the sound and style of the names you’ve picked. Then, visit our community message boards and use your fellow Bumpies to sort through all the options and come up with the popular baby name that’s just right for your little girl or boy. For popular baby names in 2012 this list has remained current.