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One of the most difficult things we will ever do in our lives is to name a child. As it is in our nature to judge a person based on things such as their name, it is important to give your baby girl one that she can carry throughout her life. Still, the choices are seemingly endless.

With every birth, brave souls step up to face the task and each year a list of the 100 most popular baby girl names in the US is compiled. The most recent listing is for 2006, since 2007 is not quite over yet! We'll only cover the top ten-with some other interesting facts.

Emily was the number one girl's name for 2006. Emily is the medieval feminine form of the Germanic Aemilius (or Emil) and means "admiring". The first woman who comes to mind is Emily Dickinson who certainly was an admirable poet. Another variation of Emily gives us aviatrix, Amelia Earhart.

Emma came in at number two. Emma is derived from the German word ermen which means "whole" or "universal". Literary fans, will be familiar with Jane Austen's "Emma" or more recently, Emma Watson as Hermione from the Harry Potter series. Actress Emma Thompson can be seen in wonderful British period films.

Madison is third and is derived from an English surname meaning the "son of Maud". Maud is a Lower German,shortened form of Matilda, which means "strength in battle" (maht=might and hild=battle). The name Madison first became popular with the movie "Splash" when Daryl Hannah's unnamed mermaid character chose hers from the Madison Ave. street sign.

Isabella is number four and is a Latin form of Isabel, which is a Spanish form of Elizabeth. It is also thought that Isabel is an old Semitic name for the "daughter of Ba'al". Ba'al means "lord" and so translated Isabella is "daughter of lord (or God)". Queen Isabella of Spain could have been known as Queen Elizabeth, but England already had one of those. Nicole Kidman's daughter is named Isabella and there is actress Isabella Rosselini, daughter of yet another actress, Ingrid Bergman.

Ava is in at number five and simply a variant of Eve. Although, Avi- is the prefix for bird, so Ava can also mean "like a bird". A well-known Ava is actress Ava Gardner. Of course, we all know Eve, the first woman in the Bible.

Abigail tops the bottom half of the list at number six. The Hebrew Avigayil means "my father is joy". In the Old Testament, Abigail was the wife of Nabal. When he died, she became the third wife of King David. One of the most outspoken and influential first ladies was Abigail Adams,

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