Isabella, Alexander top baby names in state

More Clark County natives celebrated their first birthdays in June this year than any other month.

There wasn’t a big differential, but June was the most prolific month for Vancouver-area babies born in 2009, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

The annual report issued recently went from big-picture data on the total number of babies born in Washington in 2009 — 89,242 — all the way down to the number of Clark County infants (four) who were born on the way to the hospital.

The state’s boy-girl tally was 45,692-43,549.

The report also included the most popular names for the state’s newborns in 2009, with Isabella (455) topping the list for girls and Alexander (448) the most popular boys’ name.

In 1980, when the state began tracking baby names, the most popular choices were Jennifer (97th in 2009) and Michael (now No. 11).

Clark County had 5,578 births in 2009, pretty evenly distributed throughout the year. The fewest (430) were in February, the shortest month of the year; the most Clark County births (512) were in June.

After gradually increasing every year since 2002, births in the state have decreased, according to the Department of Health. About 1,000 fewer babies were born in Washington in 2009 than 2008 (90,270).

Charts offered other demographic information about Clark County families:

• 1,695 of the Clark County women (30 percent) who had babies in 2009 were not married.

• 4,912 (88 percent) did not smoke during pregnancy.

• 17 mothers were 45 or older, but 164 fathers were 45 or older.

• 4,095 women (73 percent) started prenatal care during their first trimester.

• 5,432 babies were born in hospitals, with 78 born at home.

• In seven of the births, the person who delivered the baby was the father.