Michael and Emily Hold With Variants of Jayden Rising

Although “Michael” and “Emily” are still the top two names for babies in New York, the list is becoming more diverse:

In the last several years, New York City has had more baby girls named Fatoumata than Lisa, more Aaliyahs than Melissas, more Chayas than Christinas. There have been more baby boys named Moshe than Peter, more Miguels than Jeffreys, more Ahmeds than Stanleys.

Yesterday, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released the name breakdown for the 124,099 babies born in New York City in 2004. That, together with data stretching back to 1920, shows that in a city that is fashion-conscious and full of immigrants, some foreign-sounding names have become arguably more New York than American classics like Carol, Susan, Stephen and Harry.

As reported last May, “Brooklyn” has become quite the popular name around the country, a trend apparently not replicated in the five boroughs:

There is one popular name on which New Yorkers differ sharply from the rest of the country: Brooklyn. The name, a combination of two girls’ names, Brooke and Lynn, has soared up the list of the nation’s top 1,000 female baby names since 1990, landing at No. 101 in 2004. But in New York City, Brooklyn has barely registered, appearing nowhere in any of the Health Department rankings.

“New Yorkers hear Brooklyn, and they have an image of a place, despite its many charms, that doesn’t seem very delicate and feminine,” Ms. Wattenberg said.