Did you know that you can find old vital statistics reports for the City of Philadelphia on the city’s website? And that most of these reports include baby name rankings?
I don’t want you to have to comb through a bunch of PDFs to find Philly’s historical top-ten lists, though, so — just as with New York City and Austin — I gathered all of them into a single blog post.
I was able to track down eleven sets of rankings — six covering 2005 to 2010, five covering 2012 to 2016. Eight of them also happen to include total numbers of babies.
2016
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2016.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2016) | Top boy names (Philly, 2016) |
| 1. Ava, 92 baby girls 2. Sophia, 80 3. Isabella, 69 (tie) 4. Riley, 69 (tie) 5. Mia, 67 6. Olivia, 66 7. Emma, 62 8. Emily, 61 9. Madison, 54 10. Aubrey, 52 | 1. Noah, 143 baby boys 2. Mason, 104 3. Liam, 100 4. Elijah, 83 (tie) 5. Michael, 83 (tie) 6. James, 76 7. Alexander, 75 (3-way tie) 8. Ethan, 75 (3-way tie) 9. Ryan, 75 (3-way tie) 10. Aiden, 70 |
2015
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2015.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2015) | Top boy names (Philly, 2015) |
| 1. Ava, 110 baby girls 2. Olivia, 101 3. Isabella, 95 4. Mia, 82 5. Madison, 70 6. Sophia, 69 7. Emma, 64 8. Aubrey, 62 9. Skylar, 54 (tie) 10. Sofia, 54 (tie) | 1. Noah, 138 baby boys 2. Mason, 129 3. Michael, 101 4. Liam, 100 5. Daniel, 95 6. Jayden, 94 7. Elijah, 88 8. Aiden, 82 9. Ethan, 78 10. James, 73 |
2014
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2014.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2014) | Top boy names (Philly, 2014) |
| 1. Olivia, 91 baby girls 2. Ava, 89 3. Isabella, 77 (tie) 4. Madison, 77 (tie) 5. Mia, 73 6. Emma, 71 (tie) 7. Sophia, 71 (tie) 8. Aubrey, 58 9. Emily, 55 10. Skylar, 52 | 1. Mason, 133 baby boys 2. Noah, 124 3. Ethan, 104 4. Daniel, 96 (tie) 5. Liam, 96 (tie) 6. Jayden, 93 7. Michael, 88 8. James, 87 9. Aiden, 82 (tie) 10. Logan, 82 (tie) |
2013
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2013.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2013) | Top boy names (Philly, 2013) |
| 1. Isabella, 95 baby girls 2. Sophia, 92 3. Ava, 85 4. Madison, 76 5. Olivia, 71 6. Emma, 66 7. Aubrey, 63 8. Mia, 54 9. Layla, 53 10. Abigail, 45 | 1. Jayden, 117 baby boys 2. Noah, 111 3. Michael, 108 4. Mason, 107 5. Liam, 94 6. Jacob, 88 7. Aiden, 86 8. Ryan, 82 9. Ethan, 81 (tie) 10. James, 81 (tie) |
2012
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2012.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2012) | Top boy names (Philly, 2012) |
| 1. Sophia, 105 baby girls 2. Isabella, 97 3. Ava, 90 4. Olivia, 84 5. Madison, 79 6. Emma, 69 7. Mia, 55 8. Peyton, 50 (tie) 9. Layla, 50 (tie) 10. Zoe, 49 | 1. Jayden, 138 baby boys 2. Michael, 110 3. Aiden, 108 4. Mason, 104 5. James, 95 (tie) 6. Elijah, 95 (tie) 7. Noah, 92 8. Ethan, 90 9. Jacob, 87 10. Liam, 86 |
2010
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2010.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2010) | Top boy names (Philly, 2010) |
| 1. Isabella 2. Madison 3. Sophia 4. Ava 5. London 6. Kayla 7. Mia 8. Makayla 9. Nevaeh 10. Emma | 1. Jayden 2. Michael 3. Anthony 4. Joshua 5. Elijah 6. Joseph 7. Ryan 8. Aiden 9. Christopher 10. Jacob |
2009
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2009.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2009) | Top boy names (Philly, 2009) |
| 1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Kayla 4. Olivia 5. Nevaeh 6. Makayla 7. Layla 8. London 9. Madison 10. Ava | 1. Jayden 2. Michael 3. Anthony 4. Joshua 5. Daniel 6. Joseph 7. Christopher 8. Christian 9. Nathan 10. Elijah |
2008
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2008.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2008) | Top boy names (Philly, 2008) |
| 1. Kayla 2. Isabella 3. Ava 4. Sophia 5. Madison 6. Olivia 7. Destiny 8. Emily 9. Mia 10. London | 1. Jayden 2. Michael 3. Anthony 4. Christopher 5. Daniel 6. Joshua 7. Ryan 8. Joseph 9. Nicholas 10. Ethan |
2007
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2007.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2007) | Top boy names (Philly, 2007) |
| 1. Kayla, 101 baby girls 2. Ava, 74 (tie) 3. Sophia, 74 (tie) 4. Olivia, 71 5. Madison, 62 6. Emily, 53 (tie) 7. Isabella, 53 (tie) 8. Mia, 52 9. Aniyah, 51 (tie) 10. Gianna, 51 (tie) | 1. Anthony, 151 baby boys 2. Michael, 150 3. Jayden, 144 4. Christopher, 116 5. Joseph, 112 6. Ryan, 103 7. Joshua, 101 8. William, 92 9. Daniel, 89 10. David, 87 |
2006
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2006.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2006) | Top boy names (Philly, 2006) |
| 1. Kayla, 105 baby girls 2. Isabella, 69 3. Destiny, 66 4. Emily, 64 5. Gianna, 62 6. Jayla, 61 7. Ava, 60 8. Sophia, 54 9. Alyssa, 53 (tie) 10. Brianna, 53 (tie) | 1. Michael, 156 baby boys 2. Anthony, 153 3. Christopher, 120 4. Joseph, 111 5. Joshua, 104 6. Elijah, 91 7. Isaiah, 89 8. Daniel, 88 (3-way tie) 9. David, 88 (3-way tie) 10. William, 88 (3-way tie) |
2005
The most popular baby names in Philadelphia in 2005.
| Top girl names (Philly, 2005) | Top boy names (Philly, 2005) |
| 1. Kayla, 93 baby girls 2. Destiny, 79 3. Emily, 69 4. Madison, 61 5. Samantha, 53 6. Angelina, 52 7. Ava, 50 (tie) 8. Brianna, 50 (tie) 9. Makayla, 49 10. Olivia, 48 | 1. Michael, 156 baby boys 2. Anthony, 140 3. Christopher, 125 4. Joseph, 123 5. Joshua, 102 6. Daniel, 101 7. Nicholas, 99 8. Matthew, 97 9. John, 84 10. Isaiah, 82 |
Finally, because Philadelphia and New York City are relatively close to one another, I thought I’d compare/contrast the rankings above with the NYC rankings for the same years (2005 to 2016, excluding 2011).
Parents in both cities often liked the same names, but not always at the same time, or to the same degree. During the years that Kayla ranked #1 in Philly, for instance, it was already on the decline in NYC.
Here are all the names that reached the top 10 at least twice in one city, but zero times in the other city:
| Girl names | Boy names | |
| Top-10 in Philly only (2+ instances) | Aubrey, Destiny, Gianna, Layla, London, Makayla, Nevaeh, Skylar | Elijah, Isaiah, James, Mason, William |
| Top-10 in NYC only (2+ instances) | Ashley, Chloe, Leah, Sarah, Rachel | Dylan, Justin |
Any thoughts on these differences?
Sources: Philadelphia‘s Vital Statistics Reports for 2016 (pdf), 2015 (pdf), 2014 (pdf), 2013 (pdf), 2012 (pdf), 2010 (pdf), 2009 (pdf), 2008 (pdf), 2007 (pdf), 2006 (pdf), 2005 (pdf)
Image: Adapted from Flag of Pennsylvania (public domain)
