Tom Brady

So the Indianapolis Colts are 6-0 and the New England Patriots are 7-0 and there's plenty of debate as to who is the better quarterback. Even after last night's convincing win against Jacksonville, it seems like everyone is waiting for Tom Brady to break Peyton Manning's single season touchdown record.

Why is the business guy talking so much football? Because there's a great story developing in hospital nurseries across the country. As both quarterbacks continue to dominate the NFL, the names "Peyton" and "Brady" are enjoying the greatest era in their onomastic (the study of proper names) history.

First, let's start with Peyton, which is old English for "fighting man's estate."

AP Peyton Manning

For years, the more popular spelling of the name was Payton, which we have no doubt was thanks in part to Walter. But in 1995, the year of Peyton Manning's first dominant season at Tennessee, the Social Security Administration's stats noted that Peyton (ranked the 483rd most popular name in the U.S.) passed Payton (No. 511) for the first time.

Since then, Peyton has never looked back. Reports are that more and more babies in Indiana, Tennessee and Louisiana (where he grew up). Five of the last seven years, Peyton has been in the top 200 and with a Super Bowl victory in Feb. 2007, it's only expected that Peyton will achieve an all-time high ranking in 2007.

Ranking of Peyton:

Year of birth	Rank
2006	154
2005	138
2004	162
2003	207
2002	205

Source: Social Security Administration

The name "Brady" is of Irish and Gaelic origin and it could mean "large chested." It was more popular than Peyton to begin with, but the name has become more popular in the last four years (from ranking No. 141 in 2003 to No. 105 last year).

Ranking of Brady:

Year of birth	Rank
2006	105
2005	110
2004	122
2003	141
2002	147

Source: Social Security Association

So Brady is even leading Peyton in baby names. All Peyton can hope for is for twins like these I found on the Internet that are named both Brady and Peyton.

Questions?  Comments?