Popular Baby Names: Scottsdale Edition

In the last two months, nine (NINE!) babies were born to people I am connected to in some way – friends, acquaintances, former co-workers, etc. And of course right here at SMB we welcomed Elliot and Elsie (congrats, Joy & Steph!!). It’s been so much fun getting the text messages with weight and length stats, seeing first photos on Facebook, and hearing the birth stories – each one unique and just as miraculous as the next.

One of the best parts of all this babymania has been hearing the names chosen so carefully by their families for each of these new little people. I’ve always loved listening to kids’ names as they are hollered by parents across the playground or called by the nurse at the pediatrician’s office. I love hearing completely crazy and unique names and also noticing the patterns as they emerge. Better than any published list of popular names, this seems like a little window into the baby-naming trends in our community – after all, the national list of popular names doesn’t necessary reflect our local trends.

So over the last few weeks I started actually taking notes as I listened to little ones get cheered on at swim lessons or reminded to slow down at the splash pad. I wrote down the names of my friends, my neighbors, my Facebook connections, our own SMB contributor team, kids of friends of my friends, etc. (oh, and got some great discussion going on our Facebook page yesterday!). My two criteria were (1) that the names be of local Phoenix-area little ones and (2) that the names belong to babies and young kids in the 0-5(ish) age range.

What struck me during this little experiment is how few repeats there were in the names I wrote down. Yes, there was more than one Ethan and a few Olivias, but most of the names stood alone. I don’t have anything against popular names (I grew up with five Sarahs in every class and it never really bothered me), but I do think it’s interesting that the trend lately seems to be finding a name that doesn’t follow the trend.

So are you ready? Here’s my list of Popular Baby Names: Scottsdale Edition!

What do you think? Are your own kids’ names on there? If so, is it because I know you or is there another little Jacob or Savannah running around town? It’s fun to think about, right?

PS: If you’re a name geek like me or are on the hunt for the perfect baby name, my favorite website is The Baby Name Wizard, where you can see on a map where a name is most popular, track its trendiness over time, and see all kinds of other fascinating stuff.

Photo: I take credit for the baby, his name, the nursery decorating and the photo editing. The gorgeous shot is by Jessica Harnisch of Ten Little Toes Photography.

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Sarah Powers is a writer and Scottsdale mom of two. She came to the valley from Southern California by way of Chicago and would take Arizona summers over Midwest winters any day. A perfect day for Sarah starts with coffee, ends with chardonnay and includes lots of baby giggles and sticky-fingered kid kisses in between. She loves high ponytails, showtunes and using her kids as an excuse to stay in and go to bed early, which she would do anyway. Sarah often tweets and sometimes blogs about the messy, tender, fun, funny and irreverent moments of parenthood.