Earlier this month, the United States Social Security Administration announced the top baby names for 2021, both nationwide as well as by state. The initial takeaway, the most used names really don’t vary that much by state and perhaps it’s time for newer ones to challenge the top spot on the baby name mantel.
For the Show Me State, the top choices by parents for children’s names in 2021 includes: Oliver for males and Olivia for females.
Rounding out the top five in Missouri for boys are Henry, Liam, William and Elijah. Three of those (Liam, first; Oliver, third; and Elijah, fourth) are in the top five among all U.S. states and territories. Is the popularity of Oliver a regional trend? In Illinois, the top male baby name choice in 2021 was Noah (648), followed by Liam (613) and Oliver (584). Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Liam and Oliver were tied (both 160 occurrences), followed by Elijah (145) and Noah (137).
The rest of the top five baby female names of 2021 for Missouri are Charlotte, Amelia, Ava and Emma. Those same five mirror the nation’s top five female names of 2021, though not in that exact order. Olivia is first among female names in the nation, followed by Emma, Charlotte, Amelia and Ava. Olivia was used 340 times in Missouri in 2021, according to the SSA, edging out Charlotte (331 instances) for the top spot. In total, 38 female baby names were used at least 100 times in Missouri while 64 boys’ names reached triple digits or better on birth certificates. Nearby Illinois had Olivia tops on the girls’ list (697 times, followed by Emma, 551). Olivia also was the top choice in Arkansas (181), followed by Emma (129) and Amelia (123).
This is the third consecutive year Olivia has topped the most used female birth name in the U.S. It was second the five years before that (2014-2018) and has been in the top five every year dating back to 2003 except for in 2007.
While Olivia is on a strong run now, it was nudged to the second spot in the 2010s as Emma (194,836) was used more frequently than Olivia (184,355).
There’s a lot of Emma, Ava and Sophia on the top five list in past couple of decades. Emma, in fact, topped the list five straight years (2014-2018) after a three-peat with Sophia as the first choice (2011-2013).