US top 20 names revisited

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So I'm not sure if anyone else has done this already, but I was bored over the weekend, and I went over the SSA's list of top 100 baby names for 2012 and combined all of the homophonic names together for a more accurate idea of what the most popular names in the US actually are right now. The whole list would be ridiculous to post, but I thought you all might be interested if I shared the top 20 names per gender with you. :)

As a disclaimer, though, I'd like to add that deciding whether or not to combine the totals for two names was sometimes tricky. Take, for instance, Aiden and Adan. Adan may very have been used by some parents as a variant spelling for Aiden, but Adán is also the Spanish form of Adam, so the name may also have been used in that way by some Latino and other parents. Take also Camila and Camilla. Camila is presently a very popular name in the Hispanophone, and I have a feeling that the name is most popular in the US with Spanish-speaking parents, to whom the pronunciation would be kah-MEE-lah. However, the name could also have been used by English-speaking parents as a variant spelling of Camilla, pronounced kə-MIL-ə. So, in instances of doubt like those, I erred on the side of caution and kept the names separate in my list.

Listed is the new ranking of the name, the most common form of the name, the alternate forms in parentheses, the total number of babies born with those names in 2012, and then the original SSA ranking.

Female
1. Sophia (Sofia) ................................................................... 29,925 (SSA #1)
2. Isabella (Izabella, Isabela) ..................................................... 21,346 (SSA #3)
3. Emma ............................................................................. 20,791 (SSA #2)
4. Olivia (Alivia) .................................................................. 18,823 (SSA #4)
5. Layla (Laila, Leila, Laylah, Lailah, Leyla) ...................................... 16,837 (SSA #31)
6. Ava (Avah) ....................................................................... 15,743 (SSA #5)
7. Emily (Emely, Emilee, Emilie, Emmalee) ........................................... 15,587 (SSA #6)
8. Zoey (Zoe, Zoie) ................................................................. 14,303 (SSA #20)
9. Chloe (Khloe) .................................................................... 13,887 (SSA #11)
10. Madison (Maddison, Madisyn, Madyson) ............................................ 13,466 (SSA #9)
11. Aubrey (Aubree, Aubrie, Aubri) .................................................. 13,347 (SSA #15)
12. Abigail (Abbigail) .............................................................. 13,039 (SSA #7)
13. Mia (Miah) ...................................................................... 12,434 (SSA #8)
14. Madelyn (Madeline, Madilyn, Madeleine, Madelynn, Madalyn, Madilynn, Madalynn) ... 11,516 (SSA #67)
15. Lily (Lilly, Lillie) ............................................................ 11,263 (SSA #16)
16. Hailey (Haley, Haylee, Hayley, Hailee, Haylie, Haleigh, Hayleigh) ............... 10,537 (SSA #32)
17. Addison (Addyson, Addisyn) ...................................................... 10,211 (SSA #14)
18. Riley (Rylee, Ryleigh, Rylie) ................................................... 10,114 (SSA #47)
19. Elizabeth (Elisabeth) ........................................................... 10,054 (SSA #10)
20. Natalie (Nataly, Nathalie, Natalee, Nathaly) .................................... 9,623 (SSA #17)

Falling out of the SSA's original top 20 are Ella (12->24), Avery (13->22), and Charlotte (19->35).

Male
1. Aiden (Ayden, Aidan, Aden, Aydan, Aydin, Aidyn, Aaden) ........................... 26,458 (SSA #10)
2. Jackson (Jaxon, Jaxson, Jaxen) ................................................... 22,725 (SSA #22)
3. Jayden (Jaden, Jaiden, Jaydon, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaidyn) ............................ 21,736 (SSA #7)
4. Jacob (Jakob, Jaycob) ............................................................ 19,864 (SSA #1)
5. Mason (Mayson, Masen, Maison) .................................................... 19,716 (SSA #2)
6. Ethan ............................................................................ 17,547 (SSA #3)
7. Noah ............................................................................. 17,201 (SSA #4)
8. William .......................................................................... 16,726 (SSA #5)
9. Liam ............................................................................. 16,687 (SSA #6)
10. Michael (Micheal) ............................................................... 16,350 (SSA #8)
11. Kayden (Kaden, Caden, Kaiden, Cayden, Caiden, Kaeden) ........................... 15,870 (SSA #99)
12. Alexander (Alexzander) .......................................................... 15,429 (SSA #9)
13. Matthew (Mathew) ................................................................ 14,487 (SSA #12)
14. Elijah (Alijah) ................................................................. 14,314 (SSA #13)
15. Daniel .......................................................................... 14,143 (SSA #11)
16. James ........................................................................... 13,271 (SSA #14)
17. Anthony ......................................................................... 13,105 (SSA #15)
18. Caleb (Kaleb) ................................................................... 12,844 (SSA #32)
19. Benjamin ........................................................................ 12,695 (SSA #16)
20. Christopher (Kristopher, Cristopher) ............................................ 12,589 (SSA #23)

Falling out of the SSA's original top 20 are Joshua (17->21), Andrew (18->22), David (19->23), and Joseph (20->24).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, girls' names have far more alternate spellings in the SSA top 1000 than boy's names do. In all, once I did the condensing, I had 681 girls names and 778 boys names. I suspect this has something to do with many parents' assumption that girls can be given cutesy, kr8yvli-spelled names, and that will work out fine, but boys must have more serious, normally-spelled names so that they can grow up to be president or CEO one day, though I have no evidence to say conclusively.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Any surprises or shockers?