Baby Elijah Power-Ashwell was born prematurely at Wellington hospital in 2021, and lives with his family in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Supplied
Baby Elijah Power-Ashwell was born prematurely at Wellington hospital in 2021, and lives with his family in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Supplied
Elijah and Ava were the most popular baby names for boys and girls respectively in Hawke's Bay for 2021.
There were 11 baby Elijahs registered in Hawke's Bay, the biblical name narrowly beating Jack and Oliver in second place by one baby.
One such Elijah was Elijah Power-Ashwell, who wasborn micro-premature at 24 weeks and 2 days gestation to Hawke's Bay parents Maddie Power and Zayne Ashwell in July.
Zayne said the name was first suggested by Maddie.
"We had lists of what we were going to name him and my partner was like, 'What about Elijah?', and it just stuck ever since, it just fit perfectly."
He said he wasn't particularly religious, but his mother was and the name reminded him of biblical stories.
"Myself and my partner just wanted him to have a strong name after all the fighting he had to do to stay alive throughout the beginning of his journey through this world."
He said that they were going to just call him Eli for short, but the full version had stuck with them.
"People are like, 'Hey, Eli' and my partner is like, 'Elijah, not Eli', so it's all changed already, it's quite funny."
He said he hadn't met any other people with babies called Elijah, and he was surprised that Elijah was the most popular boy's name of the year but that wasn't what the couple thought about when picking the name.
Elijah's name narrowly beat the two second place boys' names by one baby, with 11 babies named Elijah registered in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Supplied
Ava was the most popular girl's name by a slightly wider margin, with 11 Avas to eight Sophies.
The race was even closer for both girls and boys right below the top, with Charlie, George, and Max all tied for fourth with nine babies each on the boys' list.
In third place, there were seven girls called Isla, Lucy, and Mia.
The remaining five names in the girls' top ten – Charlotte, Elizabeth, Hana, Ivy, and Leah – were all jostling for position in sixth place with six babies each.
