I’m a little late on this one, considering that we looked at the 2021 state-by-state baby name data last week, but better late than never. :)
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the most popular baby names in the state in 2020 were Olivia and Oliver.
Here are Iowa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:
Girl Names
- Olivia, 171 baby girls
- Charlotte, 141
- Evelyn, 137
- Emma, 119
- Ava, 116
- Amelia, 115
- Harper, 113
- Sophia, 106
- Hazel, 101
- Eleanor, 96
Boy Names
- Oliver, 208 baby boys
- Liam, 183
- Theodore, 169
- Henry, 163
- William, 156
- Noah, 127
- Owen, 126
- Wyatt, 119
- Jack, 117
- Maverick, 112
In the girls’ top 10, Sophia, Hazel, and Eleanor replaced Avery, Nora, and Violet.
In the boys’ top 10, Theodore and Wyatt replaced Lincoln and Jackson. (Notably, Theodore jumped from 12th in 2019 up to 3rd in 2020.)
Over 3,500 girl names and nearly 2,800 boy names were bestowed just once in Iowa in 2020. The state says that unique names are trendy — in fact, “some Iowa counties…regularly reach 100% uniqueness, meaning there are no babies given the same name in a single year.”
Here’s a selection of Iowa’s unique baby names from 2020:
| Unique Girl Names | Unique Boy Names |
| Alula, Brindle, Clorrenty, Dilnaaz, Ellaydrea, Fidelity, Glariel, Hepperli, Imariana, Jacklington, Kissimee, Lalotai, Malofo, Nellatreen, Offranel, Peninnah, Qianna, Rufusline, Sunrae, Tenebris, Ugbaad, Vatsana, Winji, Xyphora, Yliemani, Zenley | Aeio, Bazzi, Colique, Drummer, Ezzeldeen, Faltaous, Groseille, Htoo, Invictus, J-Heart, Kalikimaka, Luxender, Mlondani, Noakley, Owendan, Prexy, Qorvyn, Ramazani, Smoltz, Tuxley, Unison, Vaxston, Wirachai, Yolotli, Zantoro |
Thoughts on some of the above…
- Kissimee – close to Kissimmee, the name of both a city and a river in Florida.
- Tenebris – a form of the Latin word tenebra, meaning “darkness, shadow, gloom.”
- Groseille – French for “redcurrant.”
- Htoo – Burmese for “gold.” (Almost 10,000 refugees from Myanmar live in Iowa.)
- Kalikimaka – Hawaiian for “Christmas.”
- Vaxston – given the fact that Covid-19 dominated the headlines in 2020, I can’t help but wonder if this one wasn’t influenced by the word vaccine. (A baby in the Philippines was named “Vaccine” in 2020, incidentally.)
- Yolotli – Nahuatl for “heart.”
Finally, in 2019, the top two names in Iowa were Charlotte and Oliver.
Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal, Baby Names Uniqueness – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal
Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)
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