According to data from New York City’s Department of Health, the most popular baby names in the metropolis last year were Olivia and Ethan.
Here are New York City’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:
Girl names
- Olivia (given to 595 baby girls)
- Sophia
- Emma (tied)
- Mia (tied)
- Isabella
- Leah
- Emily
- Ava
- Chloe
- Madison
Boy names
- Ethan (given to 773 baby boys)
- Liam
- Noah
- Jacob
- Jayden
- Matthew
- David
- Daniel (tied)
- Dylan (tied)
- Aiden
In the girls’ top 10, Madison replaced Sofia.
In the boys’ top 10, Dylan and Aiden replaced Michael and Alexander.
The most popular baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…
| Top girl names | Top boy names | |
| Hispanic | 1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Mia 4. Emma 5. Camila | 1. Liam 2. Dylan 3. Ethan 4. Matthew 5. Noah |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1. Olivia 2. Chloe 3. Sophia 4. Emily 5. Emma | 1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Ryan 4. Muhammad 5. Aiden |
| Non-Hispanic White | 1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Leah 4. Sarah 5. Esther | 1. David 2. Joseph 3. Moshe 4. Jacob 5. Benjamin |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 1. Madison 2. Skylar 3. Ava 4. Olivia 5. Mia | 1. Noah 2. Liam 3. Aiden 4. Jeremiah 5. Ethan/Josiah (tie) |
Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Damaris, Eunice, and Shirin, and the boy names Dimitri, Immanuel, and Ousmane.
One year earlier, in 2014, NYC’s top names (overall) were Sophia and Ethan.
P.S. The news release also mentioned that NYC’s baby name data goes back as far back as 1898. That year, the top girl names were Mary, Catherine, and Margaret, and the top boy names were John, William, and Charles.
Source: Olivia and Ethan Top Health Department’s Annual Most Popular Baby Names For 2015 – NYC.gov
Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)
[Latest update: Nov. 2025]