Liam-a-go-go

Today I received my Queen's Alumni magazine in the mail. I don't usually read much of it, but I always flip to the section on graduates from 1990-1999 and religiously read announcements regarding Marriages, Births, Deaths, Notes, etc. As the years go by, more and more names I know show up under the different headings. A few years ago it was Marriages. Today, it's more likely to be Births.

So there I am, scanning the Births section, and within the space of two columns in the magazine - about ten announcements - I see that there is mention made of three brand new Baby Liams. I can hardly believe my eyes. (And one of them was born to one of the guys I lived next door to in first year.) This sent me into a bit of panic mode. I wrote earlier about how we came to choose Liam as a name - how we first discussed it in 1996, and then obviously had many years to mull it over, and still love it today. How we like it because it suits a redhead, it's easy to spell, it sounds good with Cook, it's an appropriate ethnicity, it's popular but not too popular... or so I thought.

This sent me straight to the computer to pull up some statistics (again, this high speed has been a lifesaver!) And this is what I found. In the US, Liam was the112th most popular name for boys in 2004. That's according to the Social Security office. I couldn't find a similar government statistic for Canada, but according to Parents Magazine, Liam ranked #98 in Canada for 2004. Now, if you go back to 1996, when the name was first discussed between Chad and me, Liam ranked #184 in the US. So its popularity is growing. And to be fair, I should mention that one of the Liams listed in my alumni magazine lives in Australia. According to the Australian social security office, Liam is the 15th most popular name there.

This all gives me some comfort. It seems that, despite my alumni magazine leading me to believe otherwise, Liam has not suddenly catapulted to the Top 10 list of most popular baby names. At least not in Canada. And hopefully not for 2005 (though only time will tell - I will be watching when the report is issued next year). We still have a girl's name and one more boy's name in reserve for a future child that we might have. The popularity of those names is not Top 10 - in fact, the popularity of both those names is less than the popularity of Liam. Hopefully, things will remain that way for at least a few years, until we have the chance to use one of them.

{I was just given this photo from a coworker who organized the car seat clinic last week. No, this is not Liam under arrest!}