New York City Baby Names Hail from Twilight, Britney Spears

The New York City Health Department has announced the city's favorite baby names for 2009, and despite Twilight falling off the top 50 of USA Today's Best-Selling Books list, Stephenie Meyer's characters (at least one of them) will live on in posterity for the next 80-some years. Isabella, the not-really-heroine of the saga, is the name de rigueur for New York City parents. Meanwhile, Bella's vampire love Edward has fallen off the list completely.

Jayden, who is not a character in Twilight but instead the name of Britney Spears' son and, in a different spelling, the kid of Will Smith, is the most popular boy name, as it was last year. In 20 years, the bars will be full of Jaydens and Isabellas while the Jennifers and Brians play pinochle at the retirement community. Or something.

Some 1,424 newborn New Yorkers were dubbed Isabella or Jayden last year, up from 1,364 in 2008.

That's a lot of Isa-Jay-Bell-Dens. Also popular were "traditionals" like Daniel, Emily, Michael, David, Sarah, Matthew, and Emma.

In terms of ethnic breakdown, for girls, Hispanic families chose Isabella, black parents picked Madison, Asian moms and dads went with Sophia, and white families liked Olivia. For boys, Hispanic and black families both chose Jayden, with Asian families going with Ryan, and white families with Michael.

Weirdest name awards to Wilmer, Zeldy, Orion, and Pinchus.

If this Twilight naming trend is any indication, given the top 10 books currently being read, we can expect a lot of little Lisbeths in our future. As for establishing these young'uns Internet presences, please heed this instructional video.

[JDoll]