Julia Muscarella, left, and Shay Muscarella hold their newborn baby Killian Arthur Muscarella at Tucson Medical Center on Dec. 20. Killian is not among the top baby names of the year, but maybe they’ll spark a trend.
Killian Arthur Muscarella was born at 6:03 a.m. on Monday Dec. 16th at Tucson Medical Center. Someday he's likely to be in school with a lot of Olivias, Liams, Emmas and Noahs.
Taylor Swift is detailing the deeper meaning behind some of the songs on her latest album 'The Tortured Poets Department.' She offered fans a track-by-track experience for the songs "Fortnight," "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys," "Clara Bow" and more.
No, not on her overall popularity or ability to get fans to pay money to pack stadiums.
But Taylor was not among the Top 100 names that Arizona parents chose this year, according to records kept by the state Department of Health Services.
It’s not that Taylor was never popular. In fact, it showed up in the Top 10 among girls in 2016 and 2017.
But less clear is whether that had anything to do with Swift and her music career or was just a fluctuating choice in what parents name their newborns.
Consider: Taylor was the fourth most popular name for girls — back in 1996, when Swift herself was just 7 and living in Reading, Pa.
So, what is popular now in Arizona?
More parents of newborn girls chose Olivia this year than any other name. It also was No. 1 in 2023.
Rounding out the Top 5 are Emma, Isabella, Sophia and Amelia.
But the record shows there’s a certain volatility to what Arizonans name their girls.
In 2000 — about the time many of the current crop of parents were being born — their own parents were mostly partial to Emily, followed by Ashley, Samantha, Alexis and Jessica.
If you go back another generation or so, you’ll find that Arizonans who were giving birth in 1975 were picking Jennifer as the top name. That was followed by Amy, Michelle, Heather and Melissa.
Some names popular just a decade ago seem to have fallen out of favor entirely.
Abigail, for example, was No. 8 in 2014. This year, it dropped to 40.
And Zoey, which was the 13th-most popular name a decade ago? It is nowhere in the Top 100 this year.
Even more telling, of the Top 10 names at the turn of this century, only three are on the Top 100 list this year — and none from 1975.
For boys, the top choice in 2024 was Liam. It appears to have some staying power: It was not only a repeat of 2023 but also was in the No. 2 slot a decade before that.
Following that are Noah, Mateo, Sebastian and Oliver.
Julia Muscarella, left, and Shay Muscarella hold their newborn baby Killian Arthur Muscarella at Tucson Medical Center on Dec. 20. Killian is not among the top baby names of the year, but maybe they’ll spark a trend.
The top name for boys born in 2000 was Jacob, followed by Michael, Daniel, Jose and Anthony.
Go back even further, to 1975, and you find that new parents were picking names like Michael, Jason, Christopher, David and Robert.
But even with those shifts, there is far less volatility in what parents name their boys than their girls.
Michael, for example, was at the top of the list in 1975. And while its popularity has declined, it still comes in this year at No. 12.
Killian Arthur Muscarella was born at 6:03 a.m. on Monday Dec. 16th at Tucson Medical Center. Someday he's likely to be in school with a lot of Olivias, Liams, Emmas and Noahs.
Another perennial favorite, and also from the Bible, is Daniel. It was in the Top 10 in 1975 and remains there today.
Still, other names that were popular one or two generations ago have fallen so far out of popularity that they are nowhere on this year’s Top 100, including Jason, Robert and Brian.
And then there are a few that, quite frankly, never seemed to make the list.
Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on X, Bluesky and Threads at @azcapmedia, or email azcapmedia@gmail.com.
