The Commonwealth of Virginia, on the east coast of the United States, is the 12th most populous state in the nation.
Every year, Virginia welcomes approximately 100,000 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies in 2013 specifically? Emma and William, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Division of Health Statistics.
Here are Virginia’s top 15+ girl names and top 15 boy names of 2013:
Girl names
- Emma
- Olivia
- Sophia
- Ava
- Abigail
- Isabella
- Charlotte
- Emily
- Madison
- Elizabeth
- Harper
- Chloe
- Mia
- Hannah
- Lillian
- Amelia
- Avery
(Why 17 names? According to my source, “There are some ties among the top 15 names by group, so some lists are longer.”)
Boy names
- William
- Noah
- Liam
- Mason
- Jacob
- Jackson
- Ethan
- Elijah
- James
- Michael
- John
- Aiden
- Alexander
- Benjamin
- Gabriel
…But that’s not all!
Virginia (just like New York City, in the nearby state of New York) also breaks down its baby name rankings by race/ethnic group.
In 2013, the population of Virginia was roughly 69.6% White (58.0% non-Hispanic White), 22.5% Black, 12.8% Hispanic, 7.7% Asian, and 0.2% Native American. While the state did not release baby name data for Asians and Native Americans, it did release data for the three larger groups.
Here are the top 15+ girl names and 15+ boy names for Virginia’s White babies:
| Girl names, White | Boy names, White |
| 1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Sophia 4. Abigail 5. Charlotte 6. Ava 7. Isabella 8. Emily 9. Madison 10. Harper 11. Elizabeth 12. Lillian 13. Avery 14. Hannah 15. Amelia 16. Addison | 1. William 2. Liam 3. Jackson 4. James 5. Noah 6. Jacob 7. Mason 8. John 9. Benjamin 10. Ethan 11. Alexander 12. Luke 13. Lucas 14. Henry 15. Michael 16. Logan |
Here are the top 15+ girl names and 15+ boy names for Virginia’s Black babies:
| Girl names, Black | Boy names, Black |
| 1. Aaliyah 2. London 3. Madison 4. Serenity 5. Ava 6. Nevaeh 7. Olivia 8. Skylar 9. Kennedy 10. Londyn 11. Trinity 12. Taylor 13. Faith 14. Makayla 15. Layla 16. Gabrielle 17. Mariah 18. Naomi 19. Arianna 20. Jordyn | 1. Elijah 2. Jeremiah 3. Josiah 4. Jayden 5. Aiden 6. Christian 7. Noah 8. Isaiah 9. Mason 10. Michael 11. Cameron 12. Jordan 13. Ayden 14. Christopher 15. Caleb 16. Ethan |
And, finally, here are the top 15+ girl names and 15+ boy names for Virginia’s Hispanic babies:
| Girl names, Hispanic | Boy names, Hispanic |
| 1. Genesis 2. Sophia 3. Isabella 4. Ashley 5. Mia 6. Emily 7. Sofia 8. Camila 9. Allison 10. Brianna 11. Kimberly 12. Amy 13. Samantha 14. Melanie 15. Victoria 16. Alexa 17. Ariana 18. Emma 19. Andrea 20. Nicole | 1. Daniel 2. Christopher 3. Jacob 4. Anthony 5. David 6. Angel 7. Dylan 8. Mathew 9. Joshua 10. Michael 11. Jonathan 12. Liam 13. Gabriel 14. Sebastian 15. Kevin 16. Justin 17. Adrian 18. Christian 19. Lucas 20. Brandon |
Sources:
- Smith, Tammie. “Your Health: William and Emma top Va. baby names.” Richmond Times-Dispatch 4 Jan. 2015.
- Births: Final Data for 2013 [PDF], National Vital Statistics Reports, vol. 64, no. 1, 15 Jan. 2015. (via Demographics of Virginia – Wikipedia)
Image: Adapted from Flag of Virginia (public domain)
