Meet the First 2022 Baby Born in Cedar Rapids

While eastern Iowa was getting pummeled by an early winter snowstorm on Saturday, January 1, both Cedar Rapids hospitals welcomed their first newborns of 2022.

The first to make an appearance was the little 7-pound 8-ounce bundle of joy above. Her parents, Morgan and Aaric from Norway, Iowa, named her Elaina Laura. According to UnityPoint St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, she was born Saturday morning at 9:47 a.m.

A few blocks away, the first baby of 2022 born at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids happened just under 12 hours later. Mercy Cedar Rapids tells me their first baby of the year was delivered at 9:22 p.m. Saturday night. No other information is available on that little one.

So what were the top baby names of 2021? According to Mercy Medical Center's BIrthplace in Cedar Rapids, Nora was the most chosen name for a girl at their hospital last year while Henry was tops for the boys. Here are the top three for each:

Girls

• Nora
• Amelia
• Stella

Boys

• Henry
• Tie between Aiden and Weston

Last month, we shared the top baby names of 2021 for three different UnityPoint Health hospitals in eastern Iowa. On the girls' side, only Amelia from the list above was in the top ten while just Henry appears on both lists on the boys' side. You can see the complete top ten, compiled by adding all the birth's at the three hospitals together HERE.