You probably saw news clips a short while back about how Noah and Emma were the most popular names for baby boys and girls, respectively, in Hawaii last year.
Indeed, according to the Social Security Administration, Noah and Emma are the most popular names for boys and girls across the country by far.
Looking at the list for Hawaii only, however, it’s striking just how many baby boy names have biblical origins: In addition to Noah, they include Ezekiel, Isaac, Eli, Micah, Ezra, Levi, Isaiah and Elijah.
Jacob, Luke, David and Matthew are also popular. To a lesser extent, so are Jeremiah, Joseph, Gabriel and even Zion.
In fact, there are far more names inspired by Judeo-Christian texts than there are Hawaiian names for Hawaii-born babes. Of the handful making the cut in 2014, Kai ranked No. 41, Keanu came in at No. 65 and Kainoa listed at No. 82.
On the girl side, there are far fewer names inspired by religion, although 14 girls were given the name Trinity last year, 18 were named Faith and 13 named Nevaeh, which is “heaven” spelled backward.
There were also only a handful of Hawaiian names, such as Leilani, which ranked at No. 51.
What the data do not reveal are middle names. As is common in the islands, many middle names are Hawaiian. It is also a tradition, to cite just two examples, to give many Japanese- and Chinese-American newborns Japanese and Chinese middle names.
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About the Author
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Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on X at @chadblairCB.