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Something Extra: What's In A Name?

MIAMI (CBS4)  - Atticus and Iker?

What's in a name? Or, more specifically, what inspires a name?

The new list of popular names is out and the answer seems to be everything from religion to soap operas and sex symbols to keeping up with the Kardashians.

In the boys' top ten, Jacob took first for the thirteenth year in a row.

Mason soared.  The name started getting more popular with a character in the soap opera Santa Barbara a quarter century ago, but it seems Kourtney Kardashian's baby gave it a bigger push.

Sophia swapped with Isabella to take top honors for the girls, whose most popular names, Emma, Abigail and Olivia among them, were around when Shakespeare was.

The top trending boys' names were a little odd.  Atticus hasn't been popular since the Roman Empire; even Gregory Peck's portrayal of "To Kill a Mockingbird's" Atticus Finch didn't give that name a boost.

The Basque name Iker is the number two boys' trender, maybe inspired by crushes on soccer sex symbol Iker Casillas?

While celebrities do help make names popular, most people aren't nutty enough to name their kids Apple, Diezel, Audio Science, Pilot Inspektor or Daisy Boo.  Thank God for small favors.

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