Last year — for the third year in a row — New York City’s most popular baby names were Jayden and Isabella.
More than 800 baby boys were named Jayden and more than 600 baby girls were named Isabella in 2011.
Here are more of the top boy names:
| Rank | OVERALL | Asian & Pacific Islander | Black | Hispanic | White |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JAYDEN | Ethan | Jayden | Jayden | Michael |
| 2 | Jacob | Jayden | Aiden | Justin | Joseph |
| 3 | Ethan | Ryan | Elijah | Jacob | Jacob |
| 4 | Daniel | Justin | Jeremiah | Matthew | David |
| 5 | Michael | Lucas | Joshua | Angel | Benjamin |
| 6 | Matthew | Jason | Ethan | Ethan | Moshe |
| 7 | Justin | Aiden | Josiah | Christopher | Daniel |
| 8 | David | Kevin | Isaiah | Daniel | Alexander |
| 9 | Aiden* | Eric | Tyler | Alexander | Matthew |
| 10 | Alexander* | Daniel | Michael | Anthony | Jack |
*Aiden and Alexander are new. They replaced Joseph (#13) and Joshua (#14).
And here are the rest of the top girl names:
| Rank | OVERALL | Asian & Pacific Islander | Black | Hispanic | White |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ISABELLA | Sophia | Madison | Isabella | Esther |
| 2 | Sophia | Chloe | London | Mia | Emma, Olivia |
| 3 | Olivia | Emily | Kayla | Sophia | Leah |
| 4 | Emma | Olivia | Chloe | Ashley | Sophia |
| 5 | Mia | Emma | Aaliyah | Camila | Chaya |
| 6 | Emily | Isabella | Makayla | Sofia | Sarah |
| 7 | Madison | Tiffany | Nevaeh | Emily | Rachel |
| 8 | Leah | Ashley | Gabrielle | Hailey | Ava |
| 9 | Chloe | Fiona | Taylor | Leah | Isabella |
| 10 | Sofia* | Angela | Jada, Olivia, Serenity | Madison | Chana |
*Sofia is new. It replaced Sarah (#11).
Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)
White boy names – zzzzzzzz. Talk about boring and overused names.
Black girl names – trendy to the extreme…
Great list and fascinating break down. It feels to me like the naming trend in the Asian-Pacific Islander community is about 10 years behind the general naming trend overall. (Justin, Kevin, Tiffany, Fiona).
I think the biggest surprise for me here is Hailey on the Hispanic girls list.
@C in DC – Great point about the Asian & Pacific Islander names. For a few (Eric, Angela) the lag-time seems even longer than 10 years.
Very curious to know why this group gravitates toward “post-trend” names.
In case anyone is wondering about the racial makeup of NYC, here’s some info from census.gov:
White persons, 2010 (a): 44.0%
Black persons, 2010 (a): 25.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native persons, 2010 (a): 0.7%
Asian persons, 2010 (a): 12.7%
Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander, 2010 (a): 0.1%
Persons reporting two or more races, 2010: 4.0%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2010 (b): 28.6%
White persons not Hispanic, 2010: 33.3%
(a) Includes persons reporting only one race.
(b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.