It is not news that the ethnic makeup of New York City is changing and has been for decades. But the effects this has on the names of the city's newborns can be dramatic, and surprising. "When you look at the incredible diversity of the top of the New York naming list," said Laura Wattenberg, author of "The Baby Name Wizard" (Broadway Books, 2005), "there are two different phenomena working together. There is the rising diversity of the population and the willingness to use names from your ethnic background rather than adopting an Anglo name, which is a change from past generations. At the same time, there is a fall of the usage of the Anglo-Christian classics."

Names speak to parents' aspirations for their children. Everyone has one, and, of course, they are free, said Stanley Lieberson, a Harvard sociology professor who wrote "A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions and Culture Change" (Yale, 2000). And because few special interest groups have anything to gain in baby name selection, "It's clean from commercial influences and not simply a reflection of affluence," Professor Lieberson said.

According to the names released yesterday, Michael and Emily still hang on to their top positions, with Daniel and Ashley close behind. However, there were differences across groups, with Emily the most popular name among Asian-Americans, Ashley the top name for Hispanics, Kayla among blacks and Sarah for whites. And, just for the record, there were 27 Katrinas born last year, placing the name out of the top 300.

But look more deeply into the list, beyond the Top 10, and the ebb and flow of changes over the years becomes more apparent.

Religion is far and away the biggest influence on names around the world. Some of that is reflected in New York City, which attracts a wide cross section of Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Hindus, all of whom have strong religious naming traditions.