Emma and Wyatt once again topped the Wyoming newborn name charts in 2017, according to Vital Statistics Services, part of the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH).
Emma, a favorite choice for baby girls for more than a decade now, remained in the top spot last year. Ava, Harper, Olivia, Avery and Charlotte followed Emma in popularity for girls. Charlotte was a newcomer to the top group for 2017. “Perhaps England’s young royal Princess Charlotte influenced the popularity of the name here in our state,” said Guy Beaudoin, Vital Statistics Services deputy state registrar with WDH.
For boys, the name Wyatt remained on top of the list followed by Carter, Liam, Oliver, Benjamin and Logan.
“Overall, Wyoming saw a significant decrease last year in resident births to a total of 6,904,” Beaudoin said. “This represented a 7 percent decrease from 2016 to 2017.”
Beaudoin noted the last time Wyoming had a total resident birth number lower than 7,000 was in 2005. “In fact, the number of resident births has gone down by almost 1,000 just over the last three years with 7,716 in 2015 to 6,904 in 2017,” he said.
Death certificate records showed a small increase in Wyoming resident deaths last year with 4,762 in 2017 compared to 4,706 in 2016.
There were also slightly fewer marriages recorded in Wyoming last year with 4,125 compared to 4,145 in 2016. Divorces also decreased with 2,278 in 2017 compared to 2,461 in 2016.
Vital Statistics Services promotes and protects the health of Wyoming residents by serving as the official custodian of all vital records in the state and by disseminating health information in support of health and social planning efforts. More state statistics and information about the program can be found online at http://www.health.wyo.gov/admin/vitalstatistics/.