Two years ago, New York City welcomed 114,296 babies — 55,854 girls and 58,442 boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Liam, according to data from New York City’s Department of Health.
Here are NYC’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2018:
Girl names
- Emma, given to more than 500 baby girls
- Isabella
- Sophia
- Mia
- Olivia
- Ava
- Leah
- Sarah
- Amelia
- Chloe
Boy names
- Liam, given to close to 800 baby boys
- Noah
- Ethan
- Jacob
- Aiden
- David
- Lucas
- Matthew
- Daniel
- Alexander
The most popular baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…
| Top girl names | Top boy names | |
| Hispanic | 1. Isabella, 285 2. Emma, 215 3. Sophia, 212 4. Mia, 197 5. Camila, 177 | 1. Liam, 399 2. Noah, 262 3. Matthew, 251 4. Dylan, 244 5. Sebastian, 242 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1. Chloe, 119 2. Olivia, 109 3. Mia, 83 4. Sophia, 80 5. Emma, 77 | 1. Muhammad, 164 2. Ethan, 145 3. Jasper, 135 4. Aiden, 118 5. Ryan, 117 |
| White, non-Hispanic | 1. Esther, 246 2. Leah, 220 3. Sarah, 214 4. Olivia, 198 5. Chaya, 189 | 1. David, 274 2. Joseph, 248 3. Michael, 221 4. Moshe, 220 5. Jacob, 217 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 1. Ava, 109 2. Madison, 62 3. Olivia, 60 4. Skylar, 56 5. Amelia, 53 | 1. Noah, 161 2. Liam, 124 3. Aiden, 118 4. Jeremiah, 99 5. Josiah/Logan, 91 each (tie) |
Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC two years ago were the girl names Aminah, Ida, and Zadie, and the boy names Bentley, Lucian, and Warren.
One year earlier, in 2017, NYC’s top names (overall) were also Emma and Liam.
Sources:
Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)
[Latest update: Mar. 2026]