For the second year in a row, girls names starting with "E" have proved a popular choice for new parents in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
The most common girls' names among the nearly 10,000 babies delivered at HealthPartners' nine hospitals in 2021 were Nora, Olivia, Emma, Evelyn and Eleanor.
All of those names, with the exception of Olivia, were on the same list for 2020. Evelyn was also a popular choice in 2019.
The top-ranking boys names this year were Henry, Mohamed, Jack, Noah and Theodore.
Noah was the most popular name for boys born at those hospitals last year. Theodore also made the top five list in 2019.
HealthPartners' Minnesota birth centers are at Regions Hospital in St. Paul; Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park; Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater; St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, Olivia Hospital in Olivia; and Hutchinson Health Hospital in Hutchinson.
Three more birth centers are in Wisconsin.
Across those birth centers, more than 1,950 different names were given to this year's babies. And in announcing the popular choices, the health care system also said it supports "families that choose gender-non-conforming names for children at birth."
