Hospitals Release The Top Baby Names Of 2024 In Western Illinois & Eastern Iowa

We know what names the latest QCA additions will share.

Our pals at KWQC report that local hospitals have released their lists of the most popular names that new parents have chosen for their baby boys and girls.

They all sound normal and in fact, pretty old school, like what a grandparent would be named. The press release comes from UnityPoint Health-Trinity BirthPlace locations, who says they helped over 1,500 families welcome babies into the world in 2024.

Bettendorf

Top boy names:

• Elijah
• Hudson
• James
• Oliver
• Weston

Top girl names:

• Amelia
• Emerson
• Layla
• Olivia
• Penelope

There's only a little bit of crossover between the Bettendorf location's most popular names and the Moline location's top list.

Moline

Top boy names:

• Andrew
• Elijah
• Gabriel
• Grayson
• Leo

Top girl names:

• Amelia
• Evelyn
• Lainey
• Olivia
• Willow

According to Baby Center, Olivia is nationally the most popular baby girl name this year while Noah takes the #1 spot for boys. For the first time in 60 years, a mainstay in the top 100 girl names (my name, Sarah) is kicked out of the top 100 (probably because there's a ton of us).

Experts predict that 2025 baby name trends will be driven by Paris Olympic athletes (and famous athletes in general), popular songs of this year, and landmark recent celestial events (like Eclipse or Aurora). Boy names that begin with 'E' are expected to be popular and girl names that end with '-lyn' or '-ee' are predicted to remain favorite options.

There's no word from Trinity on what the most popular middle names are from this year.