South West Rocks mums have revealed how they chose their baby names after state data was released for the most popular names in 2022.
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According to NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, the most popular baby names for the Mid North Coast are Isla, Willow and Violet for girls and Oliver, Levi and Noah for boys.
It seems South West Rocks parents have been inspired by the natural world and loved ones when it comes to naming their babies.
Mother Angie Douglas says her baby AJ is named after her partner's pop, Andrew John.
"We had a million girl options but drew blanks at boys names," she said.
"We wanted something easy to spell and traditional".
Mum Sarah Peters can relate to baby AJ as she is known as SJ by friends and family.
Ms Peter's also relates to choosing names in honour of grandparents.
Her Eldest, Ocean Ivy, and newest member of the family, little baby boy Banksii, were both named after the natural world with a connection to family.
"Ocean, because of my love for the ocean.My world revolves around it. Ivy after my 102 year old great great grandmother who lives here in South West Rocks," she said.
Banksii continues the connection with the ocean with the name relating to surf banks as surfing is a passion both Ms Peters and her partner Steve share.
His name, like his older sisters, was also influenced by a loved one.
"My Grandfather's favourite flower was a Banskia," Ms Peters said.
The link to loved ones is shared by Emily Atterton who named her baby girl Maisie after her grandmother's best friend.
Her son Percy is the namesake of his grandfather Percival Chisholm who helped start St Paul's College in Kempsey and was heavily involved in the Kempsey Shire community, where Ms Atterton was born and raised.
Nadia Littlejohn says she and her fiance found it difficult to choose a name for their baby girl born in December, 2022.
"Trying to think of something original and not very common was challenging," she said
The couple brainstormed ideas while pregnant on a road trip around Australia.
While in Western Australia they sat down one day and came up with a list; Elkie, Saffron, Silka, Sapphire.
"My partner said Saffy. I really like Saffy [but] I didn't really like it at the start," said Ms Littlejohn.
"I thought maybe Saffron and then we call her Saffy for short."
After thinking about how Australians tend to shorten most names and "put a 'y' sound on the end' anyway, they stuck with Saffy.
Mother Martina Dezani has three children.
Her eldest, Elias, is named after his late Brazilian grandfather Helio. Elias was chosen because it is easy to say in Portuguese from his father's side, Italian from his mother's side and in English, growing up in Australia.
Ms Dezani joins in the trend of naming after Mother Nature and grandmothers. Her daughter Ayanna is named after her Nonna, Anna.
"I chose Ayanna to mean beautiful flower," said Ms Dezani.
Baby Leon, who has recently celebrated his first birthday, was named after a poem written by friend of Ms Dezani, author Jessika Chapnik, titled 'Lionheart'.
There were 2020 babies born on the Mid North Coast for the year of 2022. March was the month with highest number of births with 195 for the region.
NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages data shows the Mid North Coast includes the local government areas of the Great Lakes, Greater Taree, Kempsey, Nambucca, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Port Stephens, Upper Hunter Shire, Walcha and Yass Valley.
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