HOUSTON — The city of Houston welcomed the births of around 62,000 babies in 2022. But you won’t find too many babies named John, Mary or Steve. The Houston Health Department has announced the most popular names parents have given their bundles of joy this year.
Liam, Noah, Mateo, Emma, Olivia and Camila are among the top names for babies in 2022. Liam is the number one name for boys, whereas Noah takes second — the same rankings since at least 2018. Mateo claims the third spot.
Emma, who cut short Olivia’s three-year reign as the most popular name for girls, is now at the top. 2018 was the last time Emma led in girl names for babies.
Mia, Isabella, Sophia, Sofia, Ava, Amelia and Charlotte are other girl names that made up the top 10 list for 2022. These same names were also in the 2021 and 2020 rankings, but they just occupied different spots then.
For most popular boy names Sebastian, Dylan, Daniel, Ethan, Santiago, Elijah and Oliver made the top 10. 2021 yielded the same names as 2022, and Sebastian ranked fourth both times.
So far, the department has tallied 61,820 births this year, which is an increase from 61,458 in 2021. There were 61,400 births in 2020, 63,094 in 2019 and 64,475 in 2018, according to the department.