By Jonathan Coffman
Special to NKyTribune
Noah and Emma might reign supreme among the nation’s most popular baby names, but Kentuckians have a different idea – at least for their boys.
According to results released by the Social Security Administartion, in 2014, Kentucky parents preferred William, but still held Emma as the best name for baby girls. Kentucky parents gave birth to 360 Williams and 316 Emmas in 2014. The pair of names have been the state’s top choice since 2011. In 2010, William was still the favorite, but Emma was second to Isabella.
The top five boy names in the nation also include Liam, Mason, Jacob and William, while top girl names include Olivia, Sophia, Isabella and Ava.
In Kentucky, the top five boy names also included Elijah, James, Mason and Noah while the top five girl names included Ava, Olivia, Sophia and Isabella.
Parents tend to draw inspiration for baby names from modern pop culture, according to AllParenting.com. For example, Emma has been in the top four girl names since 2004 when Rachel, one of the leading ladies on the sitcom Friends, named her baby Emma. The popularity of the name has grown in recent years due to the success of actress Emma Watson, whose most well-known role was Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series.
Other successful Emmas in recent years include Emma Stone, known for her portrayals in The Help, Crazy, Stupid Love and The Amazing Spiderman movie series, among others; Emma Roberts, famous niece of Julia Roberts, who played the title character in Nancy Drew as well as some Nickelodeon shows; and Emma Thompson, best known for her appearances in Nanny McPhee, Love Actually and Sense and Sensibility.
Unlike the name Emma, William is less popular in terms of celebrities. However, there are those few who are known, like William Shatner, known for his role as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series; William Shakespeare (‘nough said); and then the royal one: Prince William.
Kentucky has a history of picking the names that are most popular in the country. In 2013, Kentucky’s five most popular girl names were the same as the five on the national list. In 2012, Kentucky’s five most popular boy names included four of the top five from the national list.
The past year was no different. The Bluegrass included three of the national five boy names and all five of the national girl names.
Several names have gone through phases of popularity over the past 50 years. Kentucky’s top boy names were James, David, Michael, John and Robert in 1965, and its top girl names were Lisa, Mary, Kimberly, Karen and Tammy the same year.
No names from 1965 are in the top five today, but some made big leaps up the list from years past. James returned to Kentucky’s top ten boy names for the first time in 23 years, and Ava is now in the top five compared to the top 650 in 1965.
Wondering how popular your name is? Find out here.
To view the top 100 baby names in Kentucky for 2014, click here. On that link, you can also search by year. You can see the top 50 from 2014 below.
For more interesting baby name statistics, visit the SSA study webpage here.
Jonathan Coffman is a junior at the University of Kentucky, where he is studying journalism.