Seeking unique name, parents often end up with trendy

Those of us in the happy business of welcoming new babies, whether they be our children, grandkids or nieces and nephews, can get caught up in the naming of these babes.

Our third granddaughter arrived in March and her folks named her Ella. Not super popular, but certainly not a moniker loosing steam in the world of babies, such as Phyllis, which is Ella’s great-grandmother’s name.

Most parents want a name for their child that is somewhat unusual or hip, and they often are surprised that other parents picked the same name. Ella was the 18th most popular name for baby girls this past year in the U.S.

Annually, the Social Security Administration announces the most popular baby names in Washington state for the previous year.

In 2015 in the Evergreen State, the most popular names were Oliver and Olivia. Oh, OK!

The top five boys names in Washington were: Oliver, Noah, Liam, Benjamin and Henry.

And the top five girls names were Olivia, Emma, Sophia, Ava and Evelyn.

Nationwide, the names Noah and Emma were the most popular, according to Social Security.

Other popular girls names nationwide included Isabella, Mia, Abigail, Emily, Charlotte and Harper.

Other popular boys names included Mason, Jacob, William, Ethan, James, Alexander and Michael.

How does Washington compare to the rest of the country?

Check out Social Security’s website, www.socialsecurity.gov, to see the top national baby names for 2015.

For future parents who need some inspiration and help with naming their baby, Social Security has unveiled a new baby names quiz at Social Security Matters, the agency’s interactive blog at http://blog.socialsecurity.gov.

In addition to each state’s top baby names, Social Security’s website has a list of the 1,000 most popular boys’ and girls’ names for 2015 and offers lists of baby names for each year since 1880.

To read about this year’s winner for the biggest jump in popularity and to see how pop culture affects baby names, go to www.ssa.gov.