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It's been said that the best way to choose a name for your new baby girl is to imagine it in the following scenarios:

"Can [insert name] come out to play?"
"[insert name], you've got that promotion!"
"[insert name], will you marry me?"

A name that sounds right in each situation is one that will ensure your daughter finds success in friendships, career and love.

Perhaps with this in mind, it seems American parents are abandoning Britney, Chelsea and Courtney in favor of more traditional names.

According to The Department of Social Security, the ten most popular names for new-born girls in 2006 were:

1. Emily
From the Roman family name "Aemilius", deriving from the Latin word aemulus, meaning rival.
Famous bearers of this name include the British author Emily Bronte and the American poet Emily Dickinson.
Emily has been the most popular female name in the US since 1996 and commonly features in the top ten girls' names of all English-speaking countries.

2. Emma
From Germanic "ermen", meaning "whole" or "universal".
The popularity of this name has increased since Ross and Rachel chose it for their baby on the hit sit-com "Friends".

3. Madison
From an English surname, meaning son of Maud.
It was rarely used as a girl's name before the hit movie "Splash", which saw a mermaid, played by Darryl Hannah, take it as her name after seeing a sign for Madison Avenue in New York City.

4. Isabella
A medieval Spanish form of Elizabeth.
It was traditional among the queens of Portugal and Castille.

5. Ava
A variant of Eve, from the Hebrew word "chavah", meaning to breathe.
Actress Ava Gardner is the most famous bearer of this name, though it may owe its recent popularity to its use on the popular drama "Grey's Anantomy".

6. Abigail
From the Hebrew name "Avigayil", meaning my father is joy.
It is often abbreviated to Abbie, Abbey, Abby or Abi.

7. Olivia
From the Latin "oliva", meaning olive tree.
Its first recorded use was in Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night".

8. Hannah
From the Hebrew name "Channah", meaning favor or grace.
In the Old Testament, Hannah prayed to God to be blessed with a child. Hence, the name literally means "God has graced me with a child."
After decades out of favor, the name has been gaining in popularity since the early 1990s.

9. Sophia
Of Greek origin, meaning wisdom.
Like Hannah, this name has enjoyed a revival in popularity in recent years.
However, in the UK, the French form Sophie is now more popular.

10. Samantha
Perhaps a female form of Samuel, meaning God heard.
It gained popularity in the 1960s due to the hugely successful television show "Bewitched", in which Elizabeth Montgomery played delightful housewitch Samantha Stevens, and has been a mainstay in the charts ever since.

Learn more about this author, AK MacKendrick.
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