20 Most Surprising Popular Baby Names in WA for 2023

In a world full of beautiful baby names that include all the Naveahs, Isabellas, Olivias, Ashers, Xaviers, Noahs, and Sophias…comes the time in every would-be parents' lives where they have to come up with a name for their baby that is popular yet not popular, if that makes sense. Take me, for example, I wanted to name my baby Sofia, Brooklyn, or Olivia until I discovered that it was amongst the most popular names out there back in the 2010s.

When I found out I was having a baby, I called my mom. She asked me what was I planning on naming the child. I said, "Baby WTF?!" so my mom responded, "Well...we'll just call it 'Baby W.' for now."

I wanted my kid to have a name that wouldn’t get her teased relentlessly, yet had the symbolism of strength, beauty, and wisdom. Those were the qualities I wanted my child to grow up to have.

So I named her Willow.

Willow Cosby, Courtesy Lisa Woolcock Photography 2013

CHOOSING A BABY NAME IS TOUGH!

Some parents have a list of names picked out that they will bestow upon their newborn as soon as they see it. Others already had the names of their children picked out since they themselves were kids. According to the tweenage me, my child was supposed to be named Tyler if it was a boy, because that was the name of my crush at the time and Nikkol if it was a girl because that was the name of one of my favorite cousins.

Last year for 2022, the most popular baby names included such hits as:

Jaxon
Caleb
Logan
Jack/Jackson
Liam
Emma
Ava
Luna
Mia
Scarlett

Those names aren’t that unusual, save for the eerie fact that parents seem to collectively come up with the same names for their babies as everyone else. Why is that?