St. Luke’s delivered the first babies ever at the St. Luke’s Anderson campus early this year. Twin girls, named Emma and Emelia, made their debuts early in the afternoon of Jan. 18, born in the Women & Babies Pavilion to mom Myladys Garcia and dad Joseph Oskowitz of Allentown. Both daughters’ names attest to the popularity of traditional names. That’s true of the three most common names for girls born at Anderson this year: Mia, Charlotte and Isabella.

Mia is a name derived from the Italian or Spanish, Mia, meaning “mine,” and is also taken from the Slavic word for “dear, darling.” Charlotte, a female version of Charlot, or Charles, of French origin, means “free man” or “petit.” Isabella, originating in the Italian or Spanish meaning “consecrated or pledged to God,” comes from the Hebrew name Elisheba.

Across the Valley at the St. Luke’s Allentown campus, Emma, Isabella and Ella/Sophia (tie) were the names most often chosen by parents for their newborn girls in 2020. Emma comes from the Germanic word meaning “whole” or “universal.” Ella, meaning “beautiful, fair maiden, goddess,” originated in Greek, Norman and Hebrew. Sophia dates back to the fourth century Greek word meaning “wisdom.”

The most popular monikers for newborn boys at the Anderson campus in 2020 were Jackson, Noah and Liam, while at the Allentown site, they were Noah, Liam and Logan.

Jackson, common in English, means literally “son of Jack.” While probably taken from the Bible story, Noah could also be derived from the Hebrew meaning “to comfort.” Liam, with Irish origins, means “desire, guardian, helmet, protector or boss.” Logan can be traced to the Irish surname, O’Logan, meaning “descendant of a warrior,” or the Scottish place “little hollow.”

Other popular male names chosen this year at both hospitals were: Owen, Elijah, James, Lucas, Luke, Oliver, Aiden, Levi, Matthew, Daniel, Ethan, Ezra and Joseph.

Girls’ names included Ava, Hannah, Olivia, Amelia, Ella, Luna, Kinsley, Audrey, Riley and Gianna.

These special deliveries will likely be the best memories for their parents. Unfortunately, the deadly coronavirus pandemic will most likely be a top memory as well, although probably not a good one.

It’s nearly certain that babies born in 2021 won’t bear the name of the virus, but can we expect to see babies named after the newly approved vaccines? Like Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca? Maybe some blending of them? Stay tuned for next year’s list of popular names to find out.

Contributed article