WASHINGTON: Liam and Olivia dominate. Still.
The two names have, for a sixth year together, topped the list of names for babies born in the US in 2024.
The Social Security Administration annually tracks the names given to girls and boys in each state, with names dating back to 1880. In time for Mother’s Day, the agency on Friday released the most popular names from applications for Social Security cards.
Liam has reigned for eight years in a row for boys, while Olivia has topped the girls’ list for six. Also, for the sixth consecutive year, Emma took the second slot for girls, and Noah for boys.
The girls’ name Luna slipped out of the Top 10 and was replaced by Sofia, which enters at number 10 for the first time.
After Liam, the most common names for boys are, in order: Noah, Oliver, Theodore, James, Henry, Mateo, Elijah, Lucas and William.
After Olivia, the most common names for girls are Emma, Amelia, Charlotte, Mia, Sophia, Isabella, Evelyn, Ava and Sofia.
Sophie Kihm, editor-in-chief of nameberry, a baby naming website, said the latest data showcases how American parents are increasingly choosing names that have cross-cultural appeal. Kihm’s first name shows up in two variations on the annual list.
“A trend we’re tracking is that Americans are more likely to choose heritage choices,” Kihm said, including names that work “no matter where you are in the world.”
”More families in the US come from mixed cultural backgrounds and I hear parents commonly request that they want their child to travel and have a relatively easy to understand name.”
The Social Security Administration’s latest data show that 3.61 million babies were born in the US in 2024. That’s a slight increase from last year’s 3.59 million babies, representing an overall increase in the American birthrate.
Social media stars and popular television shows are having some impact on the rising popularity of certain names, Social Security says.
Among those rising in popularity for girls: Ailany, a Hawaiian name that means “chief,” topped the list. The boys’ name Truce, an Old English name meaning “peace,” rose 11,118 spots from last year’s position to rank 991.
The complete, searchable list of baby names is on the Social Security website.

LONDON: An English court found two men guilty on Friday of the “deliberate and mindless” felling of one of the UK’s most iconic trees, an incident that sparked national outrage.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap.

It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England. The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

They were convicted after around five hours of deliberation on two counts of criminal damage: to the sycamore and to the Roman wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it.

Reacting to the verdict, the National Trust conservation body said the “needless felling” of the tree had “shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage.

“It was felt particularly deeply here in the north east of England where the tree was an emblem of the region and the backdrop to many personal memories,” said a spokesperson.

Prosecutors had told the court that the two men used a chainsaw to cut down the tree. It was, they said, “an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage,” which they filmed on Graham’s phone and shared with others.

Speaking after the conviction, Northumbria Police’s Kevin Waring said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism, but that term has never been more relevant than today.

“At no point have the two men given an explanation for why they targeted the tree — and there never could be a justifiable one,” he added.

Graham has “been in custody for his own protection after an episode in December,” his lawyer Chris Knox told court on Friday.

The pair drove to the site near Hexham in Graham’s Range Rover and felled the tree on the night of September 27, 2023, slicing through the trunk in “a matter of minutes,” said prosecutor Richard Wright.

“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and traveled back toward Carlisle” where they lived, he added.

A video of the act recovered from Graham’s phone was shared by the two men with “the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw, and a tree falling,” said Wright.

The next day, in a voice message from Graham to Carruthers, Graham said “it’s gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight,” he added.

“They are loving it, they’re revelling in it. This is the reaction of the people that did it. They still think it’s funny, or clever, or big,” said the prosecutor.

Gale Gilchrist, from the Crown Prosecution Service North, said that “in just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its (the tree’s) historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.

“We hope our community can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted today,” she added.

The pair were jointly charged with causing £622,191 ($832, 821) of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England.

The two men have been remanded in custody — Carruthers for his own protection. They will be sentenced on July 15.

The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year in 2016.

Efforts are under way to see if it can be regrown from its stump or seeds.

The National Trust, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore’s seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK.