These are the most popular baby names in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Perhaps lots of millennial parents in Pennsylvania rewatched The Notebook and Sex and the City one too many times, or maybe they are just big fans of the Bible and the royal family — either way, Pennsylvanians named their kids Noah and Charlotte by the hundreds last year, resulting in those becoming the most popular baby names in the state in 2025.

In total, Pennsylvanians named 744 baby boys Noah and 560 baby girls Charlotte in 2025, according to recent data from the Social Security Administration. Those names were followed by Liam and Sophia, of which there were 566 and 507, respectively, born in the Keystone State last year.

The third, fourth, and fifth most popular baby boy names in Pennsylvania last year were Theodore, Oliver, and Henry. For girl names, those were Olivia, Amelia, and Emma.

If you are one of the 744 sets of Pennsylvania parents who named their son Noah last year, expect your child to have plenty of company on attendance rosters in the coming years. That name has been in the top five for Pennsylvania baby names since 2012. Charlottes will face a similar plight: They have been holding tight to that top five bracket since 2016.

While Pennsylvania parents favored more conventional names toward the top of the list, a few more unusual ones were surprisingly popular choices last year as well.

Rowan ranked as the 36th most popular boy name, with parents choosing that name 260 times. (Maybe some Rowan University alumni are eager to relive their college glory days across the Ben Franklin Bridge?) Rowan was closely followed by Weston, which clocked in as the 37th most popular boy name, thanks to 259 babies.

Further down the list, 196 baby boys were named Waylon, making it the 58th most popular name, and 165 babies were named Enzo, making it the 71st most popular choice. The 96th most popular name was Callum, with 134 babies. Who doesn’t want their son to go on to get engaged to Dua Lipa anyway?

On the girls’ side, Ava was the ninth most popular name, with 314 girls. Can we thank Abbott Elementary? Ailany was the 77th most popular name, with 114 babies, and Raelynn was 95th most common, with 100 babies.

Now for the New Jersey babies. This list varied more widely from common to uncommon.

Topping the boy-name list was Liam, with 749 babies in the Garden State. Its counterpart on the girls list was Emma, with 428 babies. Noah, Lucas, Luca, and Joseph were the next most common choices for boys, respectively. For girls, those names were Mia, Olivia, Sophia, and Isabella.

Jersey parents have been committed to the name Liam for a decade now. Last year was the 10th consecutive year that the name ranked No. 1 in the state. Emma has moved around on the list more but has stuck around the top five since 2012.

The top 20 boy names in New Jersey were all fairly typical choices, but things start to get unusual at 21 with Thiago, which was chosen 253 times by Jersey parents. Yehuda comes in swinging at 59th place, thanks to 154 baby boys. Shmuel ranks at 81 with 114 babies.

On the girls’ list, Nova was the 69th most popular choice, with 101 babies, and 74 baby girls were named Rochel, making it the 94th most popular girl name.

As far as how Pennsylvania and New Jersey compared with the countrywide trends, they pretty much fit right in.

Liam and Olivia were the most popular names in the country last year, thanks to 20,818 baby Liams and 13,544 baby Olivias, and Noah and Charlotte were the second most popular, with 20,358 Noahs and 13,400 Charlottes. In Pennsylvania, all four of those names were in the top five last year. And, in New Jersey, all four of them were in the top five except for Charlotte, which was the sixth most popular girl name in the state.

So next time a baby in a stroller rolls down on the street, say, “Hi, Noah, Charlotte, Liam, or Emma!” Your odds are pretty good that their parents will smile.