Whether you’re about to have a child in Washington state or you’re just curious about current name trends, you may be interested to know that there is an annual ranking of the top baby names in the state! This data is compiled and shared by the Social Security Administration. They release the baby name data from the previous year every May, typically over Mother’s Day weekend. Most people know that the SSA shares the boy and girl names that rank in the top 10 nationally, but not everyone knows there are state-specific rankings as well!
Now you know, and you can check out the top 10 baby boy and girl names in Washington from 2024 below!
What are the top 10 boy names in Washington?
Here were the top 10 boy names used for babies born in Washington state in 2024:
- Oliver
- Liam
- Noah
- Theodore
- Henry
- Benjamin
- Mateo
- William
- Daniel
- James
What are the top 10 girl names in Washington?
Here are the top 10 girl names given to babies born in Washington in 2024:
- Olivia
- Charlotte
- Amelia
- Emma
- Evelyn
- Mia
- Sophia
- Eleanor
- Sofia
- Hazel
How does Washington’s baby name ranking compare to national trends?
The country’s reigning baby girl name is the same in Washington! Olivia is in the number-one spot for girl names statewide and nationwide. Here in Washington state, 354 baby girls were given the name Olivia in 2024.
There are some notable deviations from national baby naming trends for girls here in WA. Isabella is number six in the national top-10 list, but didn’t make it onto Washington’s. Nor did Ava, which is ranked at number nine nationally. Those two girl names were replaced in Washington with Eleanor (#14 nationally) and Hazel (#19 nationally).
As for the boy names, Oliver knocked the nation’s number-one boy name Liam out of the top spot here in Washington state last year. Liam has been ranked at number one nationwide since 2017, making it even more impressive for Oliver to cause Washington to deviate from the national ranking. Oliver has ranked at number three nationally since 2019. In Washington state, 448 baby boys were given the name Oliver in 2024.
Just like the girl names, Washington’s top 10 boy names list also has exactly two names that didn’t make it into the top 10 nationally. Two names from the national top 10 list—Elijah and Lucas—do not appear in Washington’s top 10. Instead, they’re replaced by Benjamin (#11 nationally) and Daniel (#16 nationally).
Are different spellings taken into account?
One thing that is interesting to know about the SSA baby names ranking is that they do not combine different spellings of the same name. As explained on the SSA website: “For example, the names Caitlin, Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, Kaitlynn, Katelyn, and Katelynn are considered separate names and each has its own rank.” So if you apply that knowledge to Washington state’s list of top 10 girl names in 2024 and combined Sophia (#7 with 230 births) with Sofia (#9 with 203 births), you would end up with 433 girls named Sophia/Sofia in WA that year. That means Sophia outranks Washington’s supposed top girl name of Olivia, which was given to 354 girls in WA that year. So don’t be surprised if you notice more little girls with variations of the name Sophia than little girls named Olivia in Washington!
You can see more baby name data and read more about the SSA’s baby name rankings background and methodology on ssa.gov.