Noah, Olivia Most-Popular Baby Names in Illinois (But Not U.S.)

kanecountyconnects / May 22, 2018 / Comments Off / Consumers, Education, Government, History, People, Quirky and Fun, WK-Features

Liam is the No. 1 boy’s baby name in the U.S., but the nod goes to Noah in Illinois.

Most popular girl’s baby name? In the US of A, it’s Emma. In Illinois, it’s Olivia.

Each year about this time, the Social Securing Administration puts out its list of top baby names based on Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

In 1998, the Social Security Administration published Actuarial Note #139, Name Distributions in the Social Security Area, August 1997, on the distribution of given names of Social Security number holders. The note, written by actuary Michael W. Shackleford, gave birth (so to speak) to the present website.

The SSA website is kind of cool, because you can search by state, search by change in popularity, check out popular names by decade, search for a specific name or peruse a list of top five names of both genders going back to 1918 (when the top baby names were Helen and John).

Apparently, this year’s news is especially earth-shattering because Liam jumped to No. 1 nationally for the first time.

Noah ranked No. 1 the previous four years. Jacob dominated from 1999 to 2012, and Michael is the grand master — the No. 1 boys name from 1954 to 1998, with the exception of 1960, when David was a one-hit wonder.

On the girls’ side, there’s been a little more flux in the top spot nationally, especially in recent years.

Emma is No. 1 from 2014-17, Sophia 2011-14, Isabella 2009-10 and Emma 2008.

Some of the longer-lasting No. 1 names are Emily 1996-2007, Jennifer 1970-84 and Mary 1918-45 and again 1953-61.