Happy 2018! This week’s news includes a whole host of new year’s names, some alternative popularity charts, and Jessica Alba’s choice for her new baby.

New year’s day babies

The start of a new year is a great time for namespotting, as there are so many news stories about the first babies born in 2018. There are far too many to mention them all, but here’s a selection of interestingly-named newborns from around the US and beyond.

The first baby born on American soil got a top-20 name: Logan arrived on new year’s day on the island of Guam. In the same corner of the world, the first 2018 baby in Tonga was named Herschel, and there was Rex and Oksana Yetta in New Zealand, and lots of M-named babies in Australia: Mya Illyssa, Maddison Rose, Mila, and a boy called Raymon.

A few timezones behind, new year’s day arrivals in the US included Ariana in New York City, Lawson and Skylar in Vermont, Jeremiah in South Dakota, Garetth (a spelling twist on a name inspired by the knights of the round table) in Kentucky, Zayra in Texas, Fernando in Idaho, Kaylani and Nolan in Florida, Miguel and Chloe in California, Valya in Alaska, and Melody and Franklin in Hawaii.

New year arrivals in the Chicago area included Janae, Maren, Aryansh, Agustin and Drew – and in New Jersey, the name parade was even more varied: E’laya, Micayla, Sean, Odette, Declan, Taras, Sargo and Taheem.

In Canada, parents welcomed girls called Shiloh and Maxine in Toronto, as well as classically-named twins Philip and Victoria. One of the first 2018 babies in British Columbia was called Montgomery, and Wallace James from Edmonton was named after a film character and Harry Potter’s middle name. In Saskatchewan, a girl who shares a new year birthday with her grandmother got the unusual name Ephina.

In the UK, the first 2018 baby got the nation’s second most popular name, Harry. Other new year arrivals include Bonnie, Nico and a girl called Josefin. Lincoln and Solomon were born in Liverpool, Sorrena in Coventry, Eben and Annie in Northern Ireland, and Mabon and Mali in north Wales. And now breathe!

Have you spotted any more great names on new year’s babies?

Top names of 2017

We have to wait until May for the official US name data for 2017, but fortunately there are plenty of other popularity lists to keep us going until then.

Some states have already released provisional lists of their top names, including New Mexico (where Aurora and Santiago seem to be heading for the top 10), Rhode Island and Arizona (in both states, Emma and Liam are in the top spot, and Julian makes the top 10).

When we look at local data with smaller numbers of babies, there are more unexpected names at the top of the list. For example, the top 10 for one hospital in North Dakota includes Easton, which is #66 nationally, and Jaxton, which is only just in the top 400. Zander and Nova make the top 10 in one Michigan hospital, Raelyn and Messiah in another, and Tucker and Keira were among local favorites in towns in Wisconsin.

Surprisingly, Lenny was the most popular name in the birth announcements of an Australian newspaper. This nickname is also in the rise in England and Wales, reaching #207 in 2016. Maybe it’s time to show it some more love?

In other newspaper news, British readers of the Telegraph are all about royal names: the top boys’ name in the paper’s birth announcements was Edward, while Charlotte and Matilda tied for girls. Here’s the full top 50. You won’t find soon-to-be-royal name Meghan there, but Nameberry predicts it’s one we might be seeing more of in 2018.

If there’s a lesson to take from all these different lists and charts, it’s that the popularity of names is all relative – so perhaps it isn’t something to get too hung up on.

Honor and Haven’s new brother

Jessica Alba and Cash Warren laid out their baby-naming rules months ago: a word name beginning with H to match their daughters Honor and Haven, with one or two syllables, and unusual but not weird. Lots of Nameberry readers took up the challenge.

Maybe Jessica and Cash read those suggestions, because when their son was born on new year’s eve they chose a name that Sophie and several commenters mentioned: Hayes.

It’s not exactly a word name, but one of its origins is from “hay”, an old word for an enclosure or hedge – and of course it’s a soundalike for Haze. At #433 in the US, it’s not overused, but it’s certainly not weird either. All in all, it’s a pretty good match for the naming brief.

If you like the clipped surname style of Hayes, check out some more preppy names ending in -s. Or if, like Jessica and Cash, you just want All The H Names, here they are for boys and girls.