Which baby names were Kentucky’s favorite in 2023? These picks were the most popular

Matt DiSanto
·3 min read

Newly released data compiled by the Social Security Administration shows a few major shakeups among Kentucky’s most popular baby names in 2023.

The top name for boys was once again Liam, marking another first-place finish for the name that has earned Kentucky’s top spot every year since 2019. Amelia became the most popular name for newborn girls in the Bluegrass State after finishing 2022 as the commonwealth’s third-most popular name. In total, Kentucky parents combined to name 457 babies one of those two names, according to the SSA’s records.

If you’re brainstorming baby names, here’s what you need to know about the top picks in Kentucky and beyond.

What are the most popular baby names in Kentucky?

Nine of the most popular names for newborn boys in Kentucky remain the same from 2022, including repeat champion Liam. Asher fell from No. 5 in 2022 to No. 12 in 2023, opening up a spot for Theodore to join the top 10.

These were the 10 most popular names for newborn boys in Kentucky in 2023, according to SSA data:

  1. Liam (255 newborns)

  2. Oliver (248)

  3. Noah (224)

  4. William (218)

  5. Elijah (207)

  6. Waylon (185)

  7. James (181)

  8. Hudson (179)

  9. Levi (178)

  10. Theodore (177)

More changes came through the top picks for newborn girls, which saw two new names join the top 10 after Paisley and Isabella fell from their No. 8 and 9 spots in 2022, respectively. Sophia and Ella entered this year’s top 10 picks in their place. Additionally, 2022’s top pick for newborn girls, Harper, dropped all the way to No. 6 in 2023.

Here’s a look at the top picks for newborn girls in Kentucky, the SSA reports:

  1. Amelia (202 newborns)

  2. Charlotte (190)

  3. Emma (184)

  4. Olivia (181)

  5. Evelyn (155)

  6. Harper (154)

  7. Willow (146)

  8. Sophia (142)

  9. Ella (138)

  10. Ava (137)

What about the rest of the country?

Liam and Olivia were crowned the top names for newborn boys and girls across the U.S., according to SSA records. Their first-place finishes mark the fifth year in a row those names have topped the lists for boys and girls, although Liam’s reign at No. 1 stretches back to 2017.

Notably, some of the most popular picks for boys and girls born in Kentucky — including Harper, Hudson and Waylon — did not crack the top names for the U.S. as a whole.

How does the SSA track baby names?

The agency records the nation’s most popular baby names by tracking applications for Social Security cards. The SSA has overseen those documents for more than a century.

Several qualifications are enforced for the SSA’s annual release of the nation’s most popular baby names. For example, the agency removes hyphens and spaces while tabulating name data, so “Julie-Anne,” “Julie Anne” and “Julieanne” would all count as single entries. Different spellings of names that sound the same — think Shawn and Sean, Meaghan and Megan — are considered separate names. Rankings are tabulated by sex, so a name like Riley may rank differently for boys’ names than it does for girls’ names.

National name data is restricted to the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Although popular names get tracked for U.S. territories like Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, they are not included in the SSA’s national data sets.

Learn more about the nation’s top baby names and the SSA’s data limitations by visiting ssa.gov/oact/babynames.