Exactly What is in a Name?

The Internet, which knows these things, tells us that in the first half of 2010 the most popular names for girl babies in the U.S. were Charlotte, Seraphina, Olivia, Violet, Elizabeth, Lisa, Sophia, Laura, Caroline and Ava.

No Miley or Taylor or Hannah, no Lindsey, no Bella (that young woman in “Twilight”), no Quinn (that blonde cheerleader in “Glee”).

On the baby boy side: Henry, Finn, Oliver, James, Asher, Jack, Max, Jasper, Liam and Atticus.

“Jeez, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ with Gregory Peck came out in 1962,” said baby name expert and basement blogger Morty Python. “What’s with Atticus?

“What about the names of those guys in the vampire movies? Finn, the big guy from ‘Glee,’ seems to have caught on.”

Python says he is puzzled by absence of names from the family of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. The official list comes from the Social Security Administration in Washington and Python says he expects a Fox News investigation may be in the works.

“Where are your Tripps. your Levis, your Bristols?” asks Python. “Of course, it doesn’t look like ‘Barack’ is exactly surging up the list, either.”

Python, who has a sister named Madison and a brother named Holden, reports that the most popular baby names in Oklahoma this year are Ethan and Isabella.

“What the heck is going on in Oklahoma?’ he wonders. “I thought everybody out there was named Curly, Laurey and Jud, like in the musical.”