Joshua, Kayla top baby names in state

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

For popular boys names last year in Hawai'i, parents had no further to look than their Bible, where the top five names are found.

Jennifer and Gerald Samson of Royal Kunia picked Joshua — the most popular name last year — for their son born Wednesday night at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children. They named their 3-year-old son Isaiah, the fifth most popular boys name last year.

Of the 17,514 babies born in Hawai'i last year, 121 of them were named Joshua, according to state Health Department statistics.

But the Samsons don't mind. They liked the origin of the name and the inspiration of Joshua as a loyal servant — one who remained faithful to God when others walked away. And they know that Isaiah means "God's salvation."

For girls, gender-neutral names such as Taylor and Madison were the second and third most common girls names in the state. And Jordan has turned up in the top 40 names for at least a decade.

Many more parents seem to favor unusual names. While Jessica and Michael have remained popular names for at least three decades nationally, other names peak and fade, sometimes following the fortunes of actors or other public figures.

Compare the top names now to the top five Hawai'i names in 1950 — girls: Linda, Kathleen, Sharon, Carol and Charlene; boys: John, Michael, Robert, William and Dennis.

And some reflect their decade. Some 40 years earlier, the leading names sounded more like European royalty with John, William, George, Antonio and Joseph for boys and Maria, Mary, Amelia, Helen and Elizabeth for girls.

Sylvia Yuen, director of the University of Hawai'i Center on the Family, notes a trend toward more ethnic names, after Malia and Kiana made the top 10 last year for girls names in Hawai'i.

Americans have long named their children after figures in the Bible. Joshua, for example, hit the national top 10 in 1979 and has been there ever since.

Registered nurse Betty Mark teaches childbirth-preparation classes at Kapi'olani and notes that parents-to-be in nearly every class tell her that they plan to name their baby Joshua or Kayla, last year's most common girl's name in Hawai'i.

One of the expectant couples in her current class — Bill and Shiori Kennedy of Village Park— were pretty pleased to find the name Piper. Not too strange, not too common, they thought.

Then they started telling people they liked that name and learned that Piper is the name of a character on the television show "Charmed," which airs on the WB.

"We wanted something relatively unique," said Bill, whose own name is the third most popular among living U.S. males. The Shioris said they're still leaning toward Piper. The baby is due Oct. 17.

Another couple in Mark's current class — Laurie Sperry and her husband Russell Kutzman — are leaning toward a gender-neutral first name (Logan) and a more masculine middle name (Hawk) for the son they are expecting.

"We wanted to be creative but not too out there," said Kutzman, an Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Mark said that a teacher friend says you can't typecast a child from a name. The teacher informally observed that her students with the biblical names stood out with a common trait: "They're all rascals."

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.

Correction: Bill and Shiori Kennedy are considering the name Piper for their baby. A previous version of this story misidentified them.