Last year, New York City welcomed 122,084 babies — 59,747 girls and 62,337 boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Sophia and Ethan, according to the New York City Department of Health.
Here are NYC’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:
Girl names
- Sophia, given to nearly 600 baby girls
- Isabella
- Olivia
- Mia
- Emma
- Emily
- Leah
- Ava
- Sofia
- Chloe
Boy names
- Ethan, given to more than 700 baby boys
- Jacob
- Liam
- Jayden
- Noah
- Daniel
- Michael
- Alexander
- David
- Matthew
Notably, Liam jumped from 10th place in 2013 to 3rd place in 2014.
Lucas, on the other hand, did not make the boys’ top 10 — despite the many Venmo “Lucas” ads in NYC.
The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…
| Top girl names | Top boy names | |
| Hispanic | 1. Isabella, 331 2. Sophia, 259 3. Mia, 255 4. Sofia, 199 5. Camila, 193 | 1. Liam, 312 2. Dylan, 292 (tie) 3. Jacob, 292 (tie) 4. Noah, 282 5. Jayden, 266 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1. Olivia, 141 2. Chloe, 111 (tie) 3. Sophia, 111 (tie) 4. Emma, 96 5. Emily, 92 | 1. Jayden, 187 2. Ethan, 179 3. Ryan, 164 4. Lucas, 139 5. Aiden, 135 |
| White, non-Hispanic | 1. Olivia, 248 2. Esther, 233 3. Rachel, 228 4. Leah, 206 5. Emma, 205 | 1. Joseph, 300 2. David, 272 3. Michael, 268 4. Moshe, 267 5. Jacob, 256 |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 1. Madison, 130 2. Ava, 78 3. Chloe, 68 4. Aaliyah, 67 5. Skylar, 63 | 1. Ethan, 138 2. Noah, 128 3. Aiden, 121 (tie) 4. Jayden, 121 (tie) 5. Elijah, 117 |
Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Lexie, Ruchel, and Ryleigh, and the boy names Dashiell, Jase, and Yidel.
Sources:
- Health Department Announces Sophia and Ethan are 2014’s Most Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov
- Popular Baby Names – NYC Open Data
Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)
[Latest update: Feb. 2026]