Here are the top 20 baby names in Arizona for 2025

Don’t call it a comeback: Noah overtook Liam as the most popular baby name for Arizona boys in 2025.

Finally, after an entire decade, Noah is back as the most popular name in the Copper State, according to the state Department of Health Services.

Liam was in first place all that time, but Noah never moved past second place. The last time Noah came out ahead of Liam was in 2015, when Liam was in second place.

For girls, Olivia was the top name again for the third year in a row.

Emma and Sophia have also hovered around the top spot for the last several years.

The federal list of most popular names isn’t out yet, but as of 2024, Arizona’s most popular baby names were the country's top baby names, too.

New Arizona parents have been choosing very different names for their offspring than their own parents chose for them.

Using the list of popular names from 2000 as a guide, their parents were far more likely to be named Jacob, Michael and Alexander, the top names from that year.

This isn't only a phenomenon for boys.

A quarter century ago, Arizonans picked Emily, Ashley and Samantha for their new daughters.

There's more stability from year to year. Yet, there are still some indications of possible new trends.

Like Theodore.

In 2024, it ranked only at No. 44 among popular names for boys. This year, it made it all the way up to eighth.

And Luca moved from 79 to 11.

Conversely, Aiden was at the No. 15 slot in 2024. This year it slid to No. 68.

There also are some new appearances, like Atlas at 47 and Beau at 48, names that weren't anywhere in the top 100 the year before.

Among girls, however, the year-over-year changes were not as sharp.

Eliana went from 18 to 8 between 2024 and 2025. And Juniper climbed all the way from No. 90 to 55.

But a few came out of nowhere, like Ailany, which reached 19 this year despite being nowhere on the top 100 list in 2024.

The list as compiled by the health department does hide something else: Some names may be much more popular than others. It just depends on how the parents choose to spell them.

Exhibit No. 1?

Consider Sophia, where the state recorded 295 babies born in 2025 with that name, spelled that way.

But another 199 babies were named Sofia on their birth certificates. And if you combine the total of both, it far outpaces Olivia which -- based on unique spelling -- is the top-rated name for girls.

And that doesn't even consider babies named Sophie.

There are other examples, like Amelia and Emilia, both in the top 20.

On the opposite side of the trend of what is popular this year, a once-hot name seems to no longer be the choice of parents.

Consider Nevaeh -- heaven spelled backward.

After being nowhere in the top 100, it rocketed all the way up to No. 18 in 2007.

Various sources credited the increase in popularity to a decision by Sonny Sandoval, frontman for the Christian rock group P.O.D. -- Payable on Death -- to choose that name for his newborn daughter and take her on MTV in 2000.

By last year it had slid in Arizona to just No. 84. And this year it's no longer in the top 100.

Also disappearing from the chart this year for girls were Anastasia, Evangeline and Natalie.

Oh, and it's not just the latest Arizona parents who are rejecting the names they were given that were popular in 2000.

Data from 1975 shows their own parents did pretty much the same thing.

That year Michael, Jason and Christopher topped the list of what Arizonans were choosing as names for their newborn boys.

And the leading names for girls that year were Jennifer, Amy and Michelle.