Emma's supremacy is no surprise, as the name was the most common choice for girls for three years running before the 2017 results came out. Liam knocked Noah from the top perch for boys, where it had been since 2013.
Parents who love the names but don't want their children to be "Emma (Last Initial)" or "Liam Number Three" in school needn't panic. As name trends have become more individualized, the absolute number of babies with a certain name have dropped. According to Laura Wattenberg of the Baby Name Wizard, the top 20 names for boys and girls through the 1960s covered about 33 to 50 percent of all babies born. Today, the top 20 names cover only 12.5 percent of babies and dropping, Wattenberg reports on her blog, BabyNameWizard.
Here are the top 50 names for both boys and girls, with the absolute number of babies born this year given each name. [Read more about the year's most popular baby names]
Top 50 Girl Names, 2017
| Name | # of babies | |
| 1 | Emma | 19,738 |
| 2 | Olivia | 18,632 |
| 3 | Ava | 15,902 |
| 4 | Isabella | 15,100 |
| 5 | Sophia | 14,831 |
| 6 | Mia | 13,437 |
| 7 | Charlotte | 12,893 |
| 8 | Amelia | 11,800 |
| 9 | Evelyn | 10,675 |
| 10 | Abigail | 10,551 |
| 11 | Harper | 10,451 |
| 12 | Emily | 9,746 |
| 13 | Elizabeth | 8,915 |
| 14 | Avery | 8,186 |
| 15 | Sofia | 8,134 |
| 16 | Ella | 8,014 |
| 17 | Madison | 7,847 |
| 18 | Scarlett | 7,679 |
| 19 | Victoria | 7,267 |
| 20 | Aria | 7,132 |
| 21 | Grace | 6,991 |
| 22 | Chloe | 6,912 |
| 23 | Camila | 6,752 |
| 24 | Penelope | 6,639 |
| 25 | Riley | 6,343 |
| 26 | Layla | 6,274 |
| 27 | Lillian | 6,132 |
| 28 | Nora | 6,036 |
| 29 | Zoey | 6,026 |
| 30 | Mila | 5,941 |
| 31 | Aubrey | 5,891 |
| 32 | Hannah | 5,872 |
| 33 | Lily | 5,816 |
| 34 | Addison | 5,593 |
| 35 | Eleanor | 5,519 |
| 36 | Natalie | 5,516 |
| 37 | Luna | 5,320 |
| 38 | Savannah | 5,222 |
| 39 | Brooklyn | 5,168 |
| 40 | Leah | 5,159 |
| 41 | Zoe | 5,129 |
| 42 | Stella | 5,038 |
| 43 | Hazel | 5,004 |
| 44 | Ellie | 4,993 |
| 45 | Paisley | 4,927 |
| 46 | Audrey | 4,808 |
| 47 | Skylar | 4,706 |
| 48 | Violet | 4,699 |
| 49 | Claire | 4,683 |
| 50 | Bella | 4,611 |
Top 50 Boy Names, 2017
| Name | # of babies | |
| 1 | Liam | 18,728 |
| 2 | Noah | 18,326 |
| 3 | William | 14,904 |
| 4 | James | 14,232 |
| 5 | Logan | 13,974 |
| 6 | Benjamin | 13,733 |
| 7 | Mason | 13,502 |
| 8 | Elijah | 13,268 |
| 9 | Oliver | 13,141 |
| 10 | Jacob | 13,106 |
| 11 | Lucas | 12,951 |
| 12 | Michael | 12,579 |
| 13 | Alexander | 12,467 |
| 14 | Ethan | 12,389 |
| 15 | Daniel | 11,640 |
| 16 | Matthew | 11,611 |
| 17 | Aiden | 11,259 |
| 18 | Henry | 10,406 |
| 19 | Joseph | 10,360 |
| 20 | Jackson | 10,356 |
| 21 | Samuel | 10,323 |
| 22 | Sebastian | 10,136 |
| 23 | David | 10,124 |
| 24 | Carter | 9,753 |
| 25 | Wyatt | 9,661 |
| 26 | Jayden | 9,495 |
| 27 | John | 9,434 |
| 28 | Owen | 9,312 |
| 29 | Dylan | 9,268 |
| 30 | Luke | 9,163 |
| 31 | Gabriel | 9,083 |
| 32 | Anthony | 8,802 |
| 33 | Isaac | 8,796 |
| 34 | Grayson | 8,640 |
| 35 | Jack | 8,419 |
| 36 | Julian | 8,393 |
| 37 | Levi | 8,367 |
| 38 | Christopher | 8,255 |
| 39 | Joshua | 8,239 |
| 40 | Andrew | 8,215 |
| 41 | Lincoln | 8,146 |
| 42 | Mateo | 7,726 |
| 43 | Ryan | 7,652 |
| 44 | Jaxon | 7,649 |
| 45 | Nathan | 7,390 |
| 46 | Aaron | 7,165 |
| 47 | Isaiah | 7,165 |
| 48 | Thomas | 7,131 |
| 49 | Charles | 7,130 |
| 50 | Caleb | 7,084 |
Originally published on Live Science.
