A few days ago, a writer with the Monroe News (of Monroe County, Michigan) tallied up all the baby names mentioned in the paper’s 2020 birth announcements. The most frequently occurring names for girls were Abigail and Ava (tie), and for boys was Asher.
Like I mentioned yesterday, I don’t tend to post rankings from non-governmental sources. But, again, this set had a relatively high number of names (451) compared to the size of the county (about 150,000 residents), so here’s the full list…
Girl Names
4 baby girls named:
- Abigail
- Ava
3 baby girls named:
- Athena
- Charlotte
- Emma
- Madison
- Paisley
- Quinn
2 baby girls named:
- Allie
- Allison
- Amelia
- Eleanor
- Elena
- Elizabeth
- Elliana
- Evelynn
- Everly
- Hadleigh
- Harper
- Hazel
- Isla
- Layla
- Mia
- Nova
- Ruby
- Sadie
- Sophia
- Sophie
- Violet
1 baby girl named:
Ada, Addaleigh, Addilynn-Rose, Adorabella, Alice, Alicia, Alita, Aliva, Alora, Alyssa, A’Meila, Amirah, Amiyah, Anastasia, Aranea, Arya, Ashlynn, Aubree, Aubrey, Aurora, Avery, Bailey, Bexley, Blakely, Brielle, Brooke, Brooklyn, Brylee, Brynn, Caia, Caiya, Camilleia, Caralena, Caroline, Cattleya, Charlynn, Claire, Cora, Dahlia, Da’yana, Delaney, Eliannah, Eliza, Ellanorah, Ellie, Ellison, Ember, Emersyn, Emmarie, Emory, Evangeline, Evie, Evodia, Faith, Genevieve, Georgia, Giovanni, Gracelyn, Gracie, Gwendolyn, Haisley, Harleigh, Harlow, Harmony, HaVen, Hayzlee, Illia, Inija, Isabel, Ivy, Iylah, Jade, Janie, Jessika, Jolee, Jolene, Joni, Jordynn, Josephine, Journae, Julianna, Kaisley, Kansas, Kendelyn, Kennedy, Kensly, Klara, Kolumbiia, Laney, Leia, Lexi, Lexie, Lila, Lillian, Lily, Lively, Logan, Luciana, Lucille, Lucina, Luna, Maeve, Mahogany, Marianna, Marilyn, Marissa, Maryszka, McKenna, Mercy, Mila, Moselle, Mya, Naomi, Nora, Novalee, Omora, Ophelia, Ora, Penelope, Prudence, Raelyn, Reese, Renlee, Rhythm, Riann, Ripley, River, Roise, Rosalie, Rosemary, Ryalin, Ryleigh, Scarlett, Sedona, Shawna, Shelby, Sinya, Skyla, Skylynn, Stella, Stellana, Skyla, Tiffany, Vayda, Victoria, Ziggy, Zoe, Zoey, Zuri
Notably: “The No. 1 girl name in 2019, Olivia, wasn’t reported to The News last year.”
Boy Names
5 baby boys named:
- Asher
4 baby boys named:
- Wesley
3 baby boys named:
- Andrew
- Brooks
- Hudson
- John
- Liam
- Oliver
- Preston
- Roman
- William
2 baby boys named:
- Arthur
- Benjamin
- Bentley
- Brody
- Bryson
- Carson
- Connor
- Dallas
- Declan
- Donald
- Easton
- Emmett
- Finn
- Henry
- Jameson
- Jaxon
- Joseph
- Kai
- Lucas
- Nicholas
- Parker
- Raiden
- Samuel
- Travis
- Trevor
- Waylon
- Wyatt
1 baby boy named:
Adrian, Amon, Anderson, Anthony, Archer, Armani, Ashton, Atlas, Axel, Beau, Blake, Bode, Bodie, Bowie, Boyd, Bradley, Brady, Braxton, Braziel, Bryant, Carl, Carnell, Carter, Cassius, Cayden, Charles, Charlie, Christopher, Clayton, Cohen, Cole, Colson, Colt, Colten, Conner, Craig, Cruz, Dakota, Darius, David, Dean, Denver, Dominick, Dylan, Edwin, Elijah, Eliott, Emanuel, Emmerich, Enzo, Erik, Eudon, Finney, Forrest, Fulton, Gabriel, Gage, Giovani, Giovanni, Greyson, Griffyn, Henrik, Howard, Hunter, Jace, Jackson, Jaden, James, Jared, Javiah, Jaxson, Jayceon, Jayden, Jensen, Jonah, Jordan, Josiyah, Julian, Kaine, Kairo, Kane, Kayden, Kaynen, Khalil, Kirk, Koda, Kolton, Kyair, Kyren, Laurence, Lawrence, Leon, Leopold, Levi, Lincoln, Logan, Luca, Lyric, Mack, Magnus, Malachi, Marshaine, Mason, Maverick, Maveryck, Maximus, Michael, Miles, Murphy, Nickolas, Owen, Patrick, Promise, Reece, Remy, Renlee, Rhett, Richard, Rockwood, Rowan, Rubin, Russell, Ryan, Ryder, Ryker, Sebastian, Senan, Silas, Skyler, Spencer, Tate, Thatcher, Theodore, Thomas, Trenton, Valentino, Vincent, Vincenzo, Wylder, Xander, Xavier, Zachary, Zaidyn, Zeppelin
Another cool list. I actually like this sort of data!
Something I noticed: In the girl’s names, I see three instances where more than two girls were named respellings of a much more popular name: Elliana and Eliannah (respellings of Eliana which was #62 in 2019 SSA data), Evelynn (corresponding to Evelyn, at #10 in 2019), Hadleigh (Hadley was 112). However, in all three cases, none of the more popular spellings are reported at all! It’s true for a handful of other names given to one baby, but the fact that it reoccurred twice or three times for one name in particular is very interesting.
Nice catches!
I’m fascinated by that too — when a non-traditional spelling ends up surpassing the traditional spelling in popularity.
The example that always comes to mind for me is Zoe vs. Zoey. Zoey shot past Zoe in the early 2010s.