Few people will look back fondly on the year 2020, with the possible exception of one group: new parents.
How can you not remember with joy when your little baby went from being an inside person to an outside person, even if the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant your outside person spent most of its time indoors?
But the real question — did these pandemic babies get pandemic baby names? Did Oregonians decide to call their bundles of joy “Corona” or “Mask”?
Well, not in droves, it appears.
Last week, the Social Security Administration released its list of top baby names in the country, and of course, you can sort that by state. So, how did the names stack up to previous years?
It was a big year for little buddies who go by “Oli.”
Olivia took the No. 1 spot for the girl category, with 207 new humans receiving that name in the state, and Oliver took No. 1 for boys, with 234 new little Olivers.
Both names in the top spot shouldn’t come as a surprise. Oregonians have been pumping out little Olis for some time now.
Oliver was No. 1 in 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016, while Olivia was No. 1 in 2019 and 2016 and No. 2 in 2018, 2017 and 2015, switching off with juggernaut Emma.
Coming in behind Olivia for girls were the names Amelia (160 babies), Charlotte (149), Emma (148) and Evelyn (133).
For boys, Liam was next (189 babies), followed by Henry (187), then Noah (186) and, in fifth spot, William (167).
Otherwise, the list didn’t contain too many surprises, except maybe the seeds of a Beatles revival — 117 babies were named Eleanor in 2020, 70 were named John, 60 were named Lucy, and 40 each were named George, Harrison and Jude.
No Pauls or Ringos made the top 100 yet, but keep an eye out for them in 2021.
