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Popular and unique baby names in Sonoma County (California), 2024

Flag of California
Flag of California

Last year, the California county of Sonoma welcomed about 2,500 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Liam for boys and a three-way tie between Amelia, Camila, and Mia for girls.

Here are Sonoma’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Amelia, 13 baby girls (3-way tie)
  2. Camila, 13 (3-way tie)
  3. Mia, 13 (3-way tie)
  4. Emma, 12
  5. Charlotte, 11
  6. Luna, 10 (tie)
  7. Scarlett, 10 (tie)
  8. Charlie, 8 (6-way tie)
  9. Elena, 8 (6-way tie)
  10. Eliana, 8 (6-way tie)
  11. Gianna, 8 (6-way tie)
  12. Lucy, 8 (6-way tie)
  13. Valentina, 8 (6-way tie)
  14. Grace, 7 (9-way tie)
  15. Isabella, 7 (9-way tie)
  16. Isla, 7 (9-way tie)
  17. Lucia, 7 (9-way tie)
  18. Madison, 7 (9-way tie)
  19. Maya, 7 (9-way tie)
  20. Natalia, 7 (9-way tie)
  21. Quinn, 7 (9-way tie)
  22. Sophia, 7 (9-way tie)
  23. Ava, 6 (15-way tie)
  24. Ella, 6 (15-way tie)
  25. Evelyn, 6 (15-way tie)
  26. Hazel, 6 (15-way tie)
  27. Layla, 6 (15-way tie)
  28. Leah, 6 (15-way tie)
  29. Lillian, 6 (15-way tie)
  30. Olivia, 6 (15-way tie)
  31. Riley, 6 (15-way tie)
  32. River, 6 (15-way tie)
  33. Ruby, 6 (15-way tie)
  34. Sofia, 6 (15-way tie)
  35. Victoria, 6 (15-way tie)
  36. Violet, 6 (15-way tie)
  37. Willow, 6 (15-way tie)
  38. Amari, 5 (7-way tie)
  39. Genesis, 5 (7-way tie)
  40. Hannah, 5 (7-way tie)
  41. Harper, 5 (7-way tie)
  42. Itzel, 5 (7-way tie)
  43. Penelope, 5 (7-way tie)
  44. Sophie, 5 (7-way tie)
  45. Amaya, 4 (19-way tie)
  46. Ariel, 4 (19-way tie)
  47. Athena, 4 (19-way tie)
  48. Aubrey, 4 (19-way tie)
  49. Cecilia, 4 (19-way tie)
  50. Emery, 4 (19-way tie)
  51. Georgia, 4 (19-way tie)
  52. Hadley, 4 (19-way tie)
  53. Jade, 4 (19-way tie)
  54. Josephine, 4 (19-way tie)
  55. Kimberly, 4 (19-way tie)
  56. Leilani, 4 (19-way tie)
  57. Lia, 4 (19-way tie)
  58. Lily, 4 (19-way tie)
  59. Maeve, 4 (19-way tie)
  60. Mila, 4 (19-way tie)
  61. Nevaeh, 4 (19-way tie)
  62. Sienna, 4 (19-way tie)
  63. Zoey, 4 (19-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Liam, 22 baby boys
  2. Sebastian, 17
  3. Noah, 14
  4. James, 13 (tie)
  5. Santiago, 13 (tie)
  6. Dylan, 12 (tie)
  7. Mateo, 12 (tie)
  8. Damian, 11 (tie)
  9. Luca, 11 (tie)
  10. Ivan, 10 (3-way tie)
  11. Julian, 10 (3-way tie)
  12. Leo, 10 (3-way tie)
  13. Ethan, 9 (5-way tie)
  14. Mason, 9 (5-way tie)
  15. Miles, 9 (5-way tie)
  16. Theodore, 9 (5-way tie)
  17. William, 9 (5-way tie)
  18. Angel, 8 (3-way tie)
  19. Christian, 8 (3-way tie)
  20. Lucas, 8 (3-way tie)
  21. Adriel, 7 (9-way tie)
  22. Asher, 7 (9-way tie)
  23. Emiliano, 7 (9-way tie)
  24. Hudson, 7 (9-way tie)
  25. Jackson, 7 (9-way tie)
  26. John, 7 (9-way tie)
  27. Joshua, 7 (9-way tie)
  28. Levi, 7 (9-way tie)
  29. Logan, 7 (9-way tie)
  30. Benjamin, 6 (9-way tie)
  31. Cameron, 6 (9-way tie)
  32. Emilio, 6 (9-way tie)
  33. Henry, 6 (9-way tie)
  34. Jaxon, 6 (9-way tie)
  35. Jesus, 6 (9-way tie)
  36. Jonathan, 6 (9-way tie)
  37. Lorenzo, 6 (9-way tie)
  38. Roman, 6 (9-way tie)
  39. Adrian, 5 (19-way tie)
  40. Alejandro, 5 (19-way tie)
  41. Bodhi, 5 (19-way tie)
  42. Cooper, 5 (19-way tie)
  43. David, 5 (19-way tie)
  44. Dean, 5 (19-way tie)
  45. Diego, 5 (19-way tie)
  46. Javier, 5 (19-way tie)
  47. Leonardo, 5 (19-way tie)
  48. Luke, 5 (19-way tie)
  49. Matteo, 5 (19-way tie)
  50. Michael, 5 (19-way tie)
  51. Milan, 5 (19-way tie)
  52. Oliver, 5 (19-way tie)
  53. Owen, 5 (19-way tie)
  54. Ryan, 5 (19-way tie)
  55. Ryder, 5 (19-way tie)
  56. Waylon, 5 (19-way tie)
  57. Wyatt, 5 (19-way tie)

And here’s a sampling of the many names that were bestowed just once in Sonoma last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Alitzel, Brithany, Clary, Daylin, Erandi, Frida, Gielah, Hera, Iana, Janellie, Kalia, Leeba, Marbie, Nevayla, Olema, Ponderosa, Quincy, Roshi, Salacia, Souvenir, Spider Gwen, Trillium, Upsana, Vaila, Wilma, Xiamara, Yanis, ZulaAiram, Branimir, Cinco, Court, Divaldo, Dorje, Essiel, Fidel, Gabino, Heriberto, Isai, Jesiah, Kipono, Laszlo, Macklin, Nelson, Ove, Percival, Quinlan, Rifton, Sylo, Tanjiro, Uriah, Viliamu, Wiley, Xiveer, Yariel, Zaelyn

Some possible explanations/influences for a few of the above:

  • Airam is “Maria” spelled backwards.
  • Cinco is the Spanish word for “five.”
  • Dorje is a Tibetan name that refers to a diamond, a thunderbolt, “or an indestructible phenomenon.” (Its literal translation is “lord of stone.”)
  • Erandi is the Purépecha word for “dawn.”
  • Ponderosa is a type of North American pine tree (Pinus ponderosa). The name refers to the tree’s heavy (or “ponderous”) wood.
  • Salacia was the Roman goddess of saltwater. Her name is based on sal, the Latin word for “salt.”
  • Spider-Gwen is the fan-created nickname of comic book character Spider-Woman (a.k.a. Gwen Stacy).
  • Trillium is a type of flower with three petals and three sepals.
  • Viliamu is the Samoan form of William.

Finally, here are Sonoma’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of California (public domain)

Where did the baby name Yoenis come from in 2015?

Baseball player Yoenis Céspedes
Yoenis Céspedes

The rare name Yoenis has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far, in 2015:

  • 2017: unlisted
  • 2016: unlisted
  • 2015: 7 baby boys named Yoenis [debut]
  • 2014: unlisted
  • 2013: unlisted

What put it there?

Professional baseball player Yoenis Céspedes (pronounced yo-EHN-eess SES-peh-des).

Yoenis, an outfielder and power hitter, played on four different Major League Baseball teams from 2012 to 2020.

He saw the most success in the mid-2010s, when he was named an All-Star twice (in 2014 and 2016) and won both a Gold Glove Award (in 2015) and a Silver Slugger Award (in 2016).

Yoenis was born in Cuba in 1985, and is therefore part of Cuba’s Generación Y (i.e., one of the many Cubans who were given Y-names during the 1970s and ’80s). In fact, Yoenis was “[p]erhaps the best-known example” of this trend in the MLB, according to a New York Times article from mid-2016.

(The article also mentioned the high proportion of Y-names on the roster of Cuba’s national baseball team, which had played an exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Havana that spring. Of the 30 players, ten had Y-names: Yoandry, Yoanni, Yorbis, Yordan, Yordanis, Yosvani #1, Yosvani #2, Yunier, Yunior, and Yurisbel.)

What are your thoughts on the name Yoenis?

P.S. Céspedes’ younger half-brother, Yoelqui, currently plays in the minor leagues.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Yoenis Cespedes talks to reporters on WSMediaDay by Arturo Pardavila III under CC BY 2.0.

How did Carrie-Anne Moss get her name?

Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss
Carrie-Anne Moss

Canadian actress Carrie-Anne Moss, who portrayed the character Trinity in all four Matrix movies, was born to parents Barbara and Melvyn Moss of British Columbia in August of 1967.

Why was she named Carrie-Anne?

Her mother named her after the song “Carrie-Anne,” by the Hollies. It was a last-minute change. She almost got named Jenny Rebecca, after a Barbra Streisand hit of a previous summer. A disaster narrowly averted.

“Carrie Anne,” which was released in May of 1967, peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s U.S. Hot 100 chart a couple of weeks before Moss was born. (Billboard didn’t launch a Canadian Hot 100 chart until mid-2007.)

“Jenny Rebecca,” on the other hand, was never released as a single. But it was the third track on Streisand’s best-selling album My Name Is Barbra (1965).

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Carrie-Anne Moss at Peabody’s “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” Night by Jana Lynn French/Peabody under CC BY 2.0.

Where did the baby name Iyanla come from in 1998?

Iyanla Vanzant on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (Aug. 1999)
Iyanla Vanzant on “The Oprah Winfrey Show“

The curious name Iyanla first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1998:

  • 2000: 41 baby girls named Iyanla
  • 1999: 49 baby girls named Iyanla
  • 1998: 10 baby girls named Iyanla [debut]
  • 1997: unlisted
  • 1996: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Self-help expert Iyanla (pronounced ee-YAHN-lah) Vanzant, who was featured on 20 episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1998 to 1999.

According to Oprah.com, Iyanla doled out “some of the best no-nonsense, hard-hitting advice Oprah had ever heard.”

Iyanla’s humorous style and life-changing advice struck a chord with women everywhere. Her message was simple: To live better, you’ve got to love yourself.

She went on to host two of her own talk shows, the most successful of which, Iyanla: Fix My Life, aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) from 2012 to 2021.

Iyanla’s birth name was Rhonda Eva Harris. In her late 20s, she decided to reinvent herself — and adopt a new name, to symbolize her new life. Here’s how she tells the story:

Like Saul on the road to Damascus, I too had a spiritual awakening. Saul became Paul, and Rhonda became Iyanla, which, in the language of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, means “great mother.” It’s not even a name, it’s a title — it’s a title with a purpose.

The Yoruban title Ìyá nlá is made up of the words ìyá, meaning “mother,” and nlá, meaning “big, large.”

What are your thoughts on the name Iyanla?

Sources: Iyanla Vanzant – Wikipedia, Iyanla Vanzant Returns to The Oprah Show – Oprah.com, Iyanla Explains The Origin Of Her Name – Oprah.com [vid], SSA

Image: Screenshot of The Oprah Winfrey Show