Community Corner

Olivia, Noah Lead Pittsburgh's Top Baby Names

West Penn Hospital and Forbes Regional Hospital release the top 10 most popular baby names.

Welcome to the world, all you Olivias, Noahs, Addisons and Declans! The most popular baby names for 2012 at West Penn Allegheny Health System run the gamut of the literary, the Biblical, the distinguished-sounding, the traditional and those that reflect parental creativity.

The most popular names among the 3,400 babies born at West Penn Hospital and Forbes Regional Hospital through November 2012 are:

Girls:

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  1. Olivia
  2. Sophia
  3. Emma
  4. Aubrey/Aubree
  5. Isabella
  6. Madison
  7. Lily/Lilly
  8. Abigail
  9. Addison
  10. (tie) Victoria, Ava

Boys:

  1. Noah
  2. Jackson/Jaxon
  3. Mason
  4. Brayden/Braden
  5. Michael
  6. Owen
  7. Gavin
  8. Elijah
  9. (tie) Alexander, Colton, Dylan, Lucas
  10. (tie) Declan, Logan

Today’s parents apparently want their child to stand out in the crowd. West Penn Allegheny parents came up with about 700 different girls’ names and 600 different boys’ names—and many of them had no duplicate. Sometimes, parents created their own name, and often they added a creative spelling to an old name.

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“A” should be a popular ladies’ monogram in the coming years. More than 100 of the 700 girls’ names given in 2012 started with the letter “A.”

Pittsburgh parents stayed in tune with national trends. A recent survey by Baby Center found Sophia, Emma and Olivia ranked as the top three girls’ names nationwide, while Aiden, Jackson and Ethan were the top three boys’ names. Aiden and Ethan were also popular in Pittsburgh but didn’t quite crack the top 10.

And if you’re looking to catch on to a trend in the early stages, consider these up-and-coming names: Aaliyah (also spelled Aleah), Harper, London and Kennedy for girls, and Wyatt, Sawyer, Myles and Lincoln for boys.

What baby names are your favorite? Tell us in the comments. And upload photos of your 2012 babies and grandbabies in the photo box above!

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