Oakland County, Michigan, January 13, 2010 -- There are still no Baby Baracks, but when it came to new babies named in 2009, Oakland County welcomed 19  little Angels, a Titus, a Tag, babies with Charisma and Karizma as well as two arrivals who were clearly music to their respective parents' ears - Jazz and Minuet.

"It's always a lot of fun to look at the trends," said Ruth Johnson, Oakland County's Clerk/Register of Deeds. The Vital Records Unit recorded 19,426 births for 2009.

 "Parents were really creative," said Johnson. "We had a Blaze, Klaribelle, Maribelle, Karizma and Charisma, Tequila, Milo, Delorean, Lynkon and Essence as well as Artemus and Angus.  Geography may have played a part too, apparently, with babies named Cairo, Malaysia, Ireland, Phoenix, London, Dallas, Orlando and the more popular Paris."

Johnson said biblical names remained very popular, with many on the top 10 list. Other parents opted for more unusual names like Eden, Trinity, Genesis, Angel, Jonah, Gideon, Jericho, Moses and  Leviticus as well as both Faith and Praise. Other more traditional names included Oscar, Stella, Ernestine and Penelope.

Popular culture may have also influenced some new parents, who opted for names like Angelina (Jolie), Charlize (Theron), Kloe and Kourtney ("The Kardashians") and Coraline (the "Coraline" movie.) Fans of the "Twilight" movies might not be surprised that there were more Bellas, the name of the main character. The male leads weren't forgotten but "Team Jacob" trounced "Team Edward" when it came to naming babies in Oakland County.

"A few of the more unusual names included Sovereign, Serenity and Winsome," said Johnson. "As always, we saw a lot of the names ending in "-en" like Jayden, Cayden and Braden. We also had Aprils, Mays and Augusts, Rubies and Pearls and then a whole field of nature-based names like Meadow, River, Flora, Willow, Magnolia, four Irises, four Roses and a Daisy." 

The most popular of baby names recorded by the Oakland County Clerk & Register of Deeds Office were:

Boys                                         Girls
1. Jack                                      1. Isabella/Isabelle
2. Jacob                                    2. Sophie/Sophia
3. Joshua                                  3. Olivia
4. Nathan                                 4. Ava
5. Joseph                                  5. Emma
6. Alexander/Noah (tie)            6. Abigail
7. Ethan                                    7. Madison
8. Benjamin                               8. Addison
9. Christian                               9. Samantha
10. Jackson/Lucas (tie)             10. Emily

The county's birth certificate database contains more than 1 million names, some dating as far back as 1935.