swap spots
アメリカで2015年に生まれた赤ちゃんにつけられた人気のある名前が発表されました。男の子はNoah、女の子はEmmaが最も人気でした。
2015's most popular baby names
Noah was the most popular boy's name for the third consecutive year in 2015, while Emma was the most popular girl's name for the second year in a row.
The Social Security Administration officially released the annual list of names Friday, which looked much like the 2014 list. The top five boys' and girls' names were nearly unchanged from the previous year; Ava and Isabella swapped spots.
Noah has led the list for baby boys from 2013, rising from a low in recent years of 31 back in 2002, according to the agency. More than 19,500 babies received the name Noah in 2015, the administration reported.
Noah is derived from the Hebrew name Noach, which means rest or comfort, according to the Behind the Name website. Noah, of course, also was the builder of the ark that allowed for survival of the floods in the Old Testament.
Emma has held at the top spot since 2014, and has rotated around the top five spots since 2002, according to the agency's figures. Last year, more than 20,000 babies were named Emma, the administration reported.
The name means "universal" or "whole" and first emerged in England by way of Emma of Normandy, the mother of Edward the Confessor, according to Behind the Name. An Austrian saint in the 11th century was sometimes called Hemma, the site reports.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/06/2015s-most-popular-baby-names/84029906/
今回取り上げる表現はswapped spotsです。
まず、swapをOxford dictionaries.comで調べると“Take part in an exchange of”とあり「交換する」意味があることがわかります。
つづいて、spotを『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版、大修館書店）で調べると、「（競争・リスト）での」特定の位置、順位；地位、立場」とあり、同上英英辞典のサイトでも” A ranking”の定義がありました。
以上のことから「（前年度と比べて）AvaとIsabellaの順位が入れ替わった」ということがわかります。
ちなみに、明治生命が発表した日本の2015年の名前ランキングでは男の子は「大翔」、女の子は「葵」がそれぞれ一位だそうです。(flyingbird)
以前にも先生がswapについて取り上げておられます。
