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Here Are NYC's Most Popular Baby Names For 2018
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 23, 2019
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 23, 2019
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You've been waiting all year for it, and now the NYC Health Department has unveiled the most popular baby names for 2018. Spoiler: The most popular baby names are the same ones as last year, which means they were also the same ones in 2017.
Emma was the most popular name for girls for the second year in a row, while Liam is now the number one name for boys for a fourth year in a row. According to the Health Department, 501 Emmas were born in 2018, while there were 779 Liams.
Here are the other names:
Name game
NYC Health Department
Breaking it down, the top ten has stayed pretty stable, with a few shifts in the order: Emily dropped off the girls' list; Isabella is now second (rising from fifth), with Sophia now at third (previously fourth). Amelia and Chloe are making their first appearances on the list, while Mila and Olivia moved down.
On the boys' side, Jayden left the top ten, with Alexander making it instead. Ethan is now the third most popular name (it was fourth last year), and Aiden moved up from ninth to fifth most popular.
Here are some more stats from the Health Department:
- From 2017 to 2018, the number of babies born in New York City decreased 2.3%– from 117,013 births to 114,296 (58,442 boys and 55,854 girls).
- Gender-neutral names: There were a number of names popular for both boys and girls: Angel (No. 65 and No. 133), Avery (No 110 and No. 38), Blake (No. 143 and No. 125), Charlie (No. 128 and No. 119), Dylan (No. 11 and No. 117), Eden (No. 141 and No. 117), Hayden (No. 133 and No. 137), Kai (No. 89 and No. 140), Logan (No. 18 and No. 130), Milan (No. 134 and No. 131), Parker (No. 126 and No. 123), Phoenix (No. 155 and No 124), Remy (No. 148 and No. 133), Riley (No. 147 and No. 30), River (No. 148 and No. 136), Royal (No. 161 and No.138), Quinn (No. 157 and No. 119), and Yael (No. 162 and No. 132).
NYC Health Department
- Celebrity names: For girls, the names Scarlett (No. 32), Tessa (No. 122), Reese (No. 129), and Regina (No. 138) were popular. For boys, Leonardo (No. 76), Oscar (No. 86), Joaquin (No. 156), and Idris (No. 156) were popular.
- Royal names: Some parents may have been inspired by British royalty when naming their children Meghan (No. 122), Harry (No. 144), William (No. 21), and Kate (No. 121). Other parents sought royal titles for their children: King (No. 91), Queen (No. 139), Prince (No. 109), and Princess (No. 136).
- Future trend-setters: Some New Yorkers gave their children names that are not commonly chosen, with as few as 10 parents naming their daughters Aminah, Ida, and Zadie and sons Bentley, Lucian, and Warren.
As far as we could tell from information on the city's open data portal, it doesn't appear as if anyone in the city has named their child Seven during this decade, which is a real shame.
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baby names
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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