The most popular baby names of 2021 in Knox County have been released! And they are ...

GALESBURG — It was another close race for Knox County's most popular baby names of 2021.

Each May, the Social Security Administration releases statistics about the popularity of baby names in the previous year. But Knox County Clerk Scott Erickson and his staff are on the ball and helped give us a sneak peak on the most common names local parents gave their newborns in 2021.

A total of 521 babies were born in Knox County in 2021, with the boys topping girls 269-252.

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Scarlett claimed the title as the most popular girls name in Knox County in 2021, while Asher, Carter, Liam and Oliver share the crown for favorite boys name.

But races for both most popular boys and girls names were especially close. There were five baby Scarletts born last year, edging the names Ava, Harper and Olivia that were each used four times.

Asher, Carter, Liam and Oliver names were given to four baby boys each in Knox County. Eleven different names — Benjamin, Grayson, Henry, James, Kol, Mason, Miguel, Parker, Prince, Ryker and Silas — were used three times each.

Here are the top baby names for 2021 for births in Knox County.

Most popular boy names in Knox County

1. Asher (4)

Carter (4)

Liam (4)

Oliver (4)

5. Benjamin (3)

Grayson (3)

Henry (3)

James (3)

Kol (3)

Mason (3)

Miguel (3)

Parker (3)

Prince (3)

Ryker (3)

Silas (3)

Most popular girl names in Knox County

1. Scarlett (5)

2. Ava (4)

Harper (4)

Olivia (4)

5. Abigail (3)

Aria (3)

Audrey (3)

Aurora (3)

Hazel (3)

Hope (3)

Lucille (3)

Luna (3)

Nova (3)

Sofia (3)

Scarlett Kay Lorene Kemp was born July 15, 2021, at OSF St. Mary Medical Center to Alicia Stone and Matthew Kemp of Knoxville.

"This is both of our first child, and I wanted something unique but that was known with a classy ring to it, and Scarlett just so happened to fit the bill," Stone said.

"We had a small list. It came down to if it was a girl I was able to choose the name. So my list was not very big and Scarlett was at the top of it. When we found out it was a girl we were settled on Scarlett."

So far, Scarlett is called "Wittle Bean" and "Scar."

A Disney movie helped inspire MacKenzie and Evan Huff to name their baby Oliver Pete Melvin Huff on May 23, 2021.

"Oliver came from a Disney movie my husband and I grew up watching named Oliver & Company," said MacKenzie Huff. "We both had names and we couldn't agree, until Oliver came out and we were sold. After that it didn't change.

Oliver has obtained the nicknames "Oli," "OP," and "milk man."

Hope Gregory and Cody Boynton knew their little boy was an Oliver at first sight.

"We took forever to pick his name," said Hope. "Three days before having him we sat down and decided we loved the nickname 'Ollie man,' but it wasn’t decided until we saw his sweet face we knew he was an Oliver.

Cody McIntyre and Jordan Huttenstine of Galesburg were looking for an "A name" when their son Asher was born Dec. 29 at OSF St. Mary Medical Center.

"It was between Asher and Camden," McIntyre said. "But Asher’s cousin is named Amelia so we figured we had to keep with the A names for some sort of grand baby tradition I suppose."

Asked if Asher would get the nickname Ash, McIntyre said, "There's a chance, but right now, we call him 'Poopy Man.' Either that, or 'Little Man.'"

According to Nameberry, Eloise became the top girl's name of 2021. Eloise beat out Aurelia, Luna and Maeve. The top boy's name was Arlo.

Maybe Knox County parents like to be unique, but there were no babies named Eloise or Arlo, according to Erickson and staff.

Eloise came from behind to become Nameberry’s top girls’ name of 2021. Eloise beat out three goddess names, Aurelia, Luna, and Maeve, that traded places at the head of the girls’ popularity list all year. Meanwhile, Eloise steadily amassed enough page views to claim the Number 1 spot.

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There’s a new top boy name on Nameberry for 2021 too, but that’s less of a surprise. Arlo has been dominating the list of popular boy names all year, taking over from Milo, the top boys’ name of 2020.

Nameberry’s popular names list gauges which names attracted the most attention from the site’s visitors over the year. Rather than a measure of how many babies received each name, it’s a prediction of which names parents are most likely to choose in the future.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: 2021 most popular baby boy, girl names in Knox County Illinois