These were 2023’s most popular baby names in Illinois & Missouri. See which made the cut

Two pairs of familiar favorites checked in as the most popular names for newborns in Illinois and Missouri in 2023, according to newly released data compiled by the Social Security Administration.

The top names for boys and girls — Noah and Olivia in Illinois and Oliver and Charlotte in Missouri — were repeats from 2022. In total, parents in the Land of Lincoln and the Show-Me State combined to name 1,846 babies one of those four names, according to the SSA’s records.

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

What are the most popular baby names in Illinois?

Noah’s reign as the top name for Illinois newborn boys continued this year. To see Noah outside the top spot, you’d need to go all the way back to 2012, when it checked in as the third-most popular option behind Jacob and Alexander.

Here’s a look at the most popular names given to boys born in Illinois in 2023, according to SSA records:

1. Noah (672 newborns)

2. Liam (665)

3. Oliver (495)
   
   

4. Mateo (481)

5. Theodore (481)

6. Henry (462)

7. Benjamin (430)

8. Lucas (392)

9. James (358)

10. Michael (353)

Though Olivia once again took the top spot, Illinois saw some movement inside its top 10 picks for newborn girls’ names. Evelyn entered the top 10 at No. 9 and replaced Camila, which fell from No. 9 in 2022 to No. 11 in 2023.

These were the most popular names for Illinois’ newborn girls in 2023, the SSA reports:

1. Olivia (535 newborns)

2. Emma (493)

3. Mia (439)

4. Sophia (434)

5. Charlotte (433)

6. Amelia (428)

7. Sofia (372)

8. Ava (354)

9. Evelyn (347)

10. Isabella (345)

Were Missouri’s top names different?

Over in the Show-Me State, Oliver once again took the top spot among boys’ names. Theodore fell from No. 2 in 2022 to No. 5 in 2023, while Benjamin’s fall from the top 10 cleared room for Owen to join the ranks.

Here’s a look at the top baby names for boys in Missouri in 2023, according to SSA records:

1. Oliver (355 newborns)

2. Henry (311)

3. Liam (288)

4. Noah (287)

5. Theodore (277)

6. William (261)
   
   

7. Hudson (246)

8. James (234)

9. Elijah (218)

10. Owen (206)

Charlotte earned another first-place finish among girls’ names in Missouri in 2023, while most of the more popular names remained inside the top 10 for another year. Violet dropped out from No. 10 last year to make way for Hazel.

These were 2023’s most popular names for newborn girls in Missouri, the SSA reports:

1. Charlotte (284)

2. Olivia (279)

3. Amelia (254)

4. Eleanor (217)

5. Harper (217)

6. Emma (209)

7. Evelyn (200)

8. Sophia (196)

9. Ava (178)

10. Hazel (161)

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 data. This is now 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 in Illinois and Missouri — including Benjamin, Lucas, James, Hudson and Hazel — 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.

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