Tennessee's modern tradition for the top names for new babies continued in 2014, with Emma and William taking the number one spots for a fourth consecutive year as the most popular names given by new Tennessee parents. William has been the number one name chosen for baby boys born in Tennessee for eight straight years. Emma repeats as the most popular name for Tennessee baby girls after taking the top spot on the list in 2011.

New names are not the only news. Welcome Baby is a project to improve communication and information to new parents begun last year. All new babies born in Tennessee are now greeted with a Welcome Baby package as part of an innovative outreach effort designed to connect children and families with appropriate services and improve utilization of community resources. The packet contains a letter of congratulations from First Lady Crissy Haslam, information on the kidcentral tn website, sign-up material for the family's local Imagination Library chapter and more. More than 71,000 Tennessee babies received a Welcome Baby packet in 2014, and team members made more than 11,500 outreach contacts during the past year.

While the most popular names for boys born in 2014 in Tennessee remain largely unchanged from the previous year, two new names broke into the top 10 list of girls' names last year. The top 10 names Tennessee parents chose for their new babies born in 2014* are as follows:

Rank Girls Boys
1 Emma William
2 Ava Elijah
3 Olivia Mason
4 Sophia James
5 Isabella Noah
6 Abigail Liam
7 Harper Jackson
8 Elizabeth John
9 Madison Jacob
10 Ella Ethan

*provisional data

Harper and Ella are both new additions to the list of Tennessee's most popular names for girls, bumping Emily and Addison out of the top ten. The other girls' names in the top ten are unchanged from 2013; Ava and Elizabeth held their positions from 2013, but rankings for the other top girls' names have shifted from the previous year.

William has been the top choice for boys' names in Tennessee since 2007. All ten top boys' names remain from the 2013 list, with all but Noah changing their rankings from 2013.

Tennessee families are encouraged to visit kidcentral tn, a one-stop shop to connect them with important information and resources provided by state government departments and agencies. The website features a comprehensive directory of state services for children and families. Learn more at kidcentraltn.com.