Long gone are Mary, Margaret, John and James – favorite baby names of New Yorkers having kids in 1898. Madison and Mia, along with Jayden and Justin, are more the style of today’s New York City parent. These names ranked among the top 10 most popular baby names of 2006, according to the list released today by the Health Department. Longtime favorites Ashley and Michael took the number-one spots among the 125,506 babies born here last year.
Top 10 boy names in New York (2006): Michael, Daniel, Matthew, Joshua, Justin, David, Christopher, Joseph, Anthony, Jayden
Top 10 girl names in New York (2006): Ashley, Emily, Isabella, Sarah, Kayla, Sophia, Mia, Madison, Brianna, Samantha
Michael reigned as king of boys’ names, as he has since 1980. Matthew bumped David out of the top five this year and newcomer Jayden claimed the 10th spot, leaving Nicholas off the list. For girls, Ashley nudged out Emily for number one, reclaiming the position she’d held from 1992-2002. Newcomers Mia and Madison entered the top 10, and Olivia and Rachel lost their slots.
Breaking it down into ethnic groups, Michael and Sarah were the top White names, Joshua and Kayla the top Black names, Ashley and Angel the top Hispanic names and Emily and Ryan the top Asia/Pacific names. The Hispanic names are interesting, as they are both unisex name (in this case, Ashley is the girl).
There were numerous geographical names that cropped up, including London, Milan, Egypt and Kenya. There were even ten girls named Trany!
The full data can be downloaded from the NYC government site (pdf).