A kid’s gotta have pretty good timing to be the first baby born in a new year these days. The US Census Bureau’s population clock indicates one new baby is born every 8 seconds. Such rapidly coming competition for the title of First Baby of 2014 and differing time zones means there are babies all over the country claiming First Baby status. Here are some of the most notable from the US and elsewhere:
- Tenzin Choetso is the first baby born in New York City in 2014. She was born at 12:00:01 AM, just one second into the New Year. Baby Tenzin’s parents each immigrated to the US from Tibet five years ago and met at a New Year’s Eve party in 2008. They turned to the Dalai Lama himself for name suggestions, who suggested the name Tenzin, which is his own first name and means “to conquer the wisdom of Buddha.”
- Chicago’s first baby - Luis Anthony Marquez, born at 12:01 AM - is the first son of Luis and Luz Marquez. Two big sisters, Ari and Yamileth, welcome him home.
- A coin toss named Danielle Marie Leebens, first baby born in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Name choices had been narrowed down to two by means of a bracket system like the one used for March Madness basketball games.
- It’s a boy in San Antonio, Texas, where Zane Huesca Rodriguez was the first baby born there in 2014, after his parents spent New Year’s Eve enjoying the city’s festivities with the hope the physical activity would “jump-start” the labor process. Little Zane’s daddy, an Army National Guardsman, was hoping for a 2013 tax break but Zane was three minutes too late for that. Instead, he was showered with First Baby gifts from the city and local businesses. One gift, a $10,000 college scholarship, will help someday to offset that missed 2013 tax break.
- So’Unique Miracle Randle was the first baby born at Covenant Health System in Lubbock, Texas. She arrived about 12 days early to claim the title and is welcomed home by sisters Saphire and Violet.
- Lillianna Noell Tiopan, born just two seconds after midnight, is the first baby born in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- London’s Big Ben clock was still ringing in the midnight hour when Gracie Welcome was born, making her the first baby born in the UK in 2014.
- Lupus complicated the pregnancy and unruly kangaroos and diligent breath-testing policemen at a roadblock complicated the drive to the delivery room but none of it stopped Max Alexander from being the first baby of 2014 born in Victoria, Australia. Max, born on 01/01, of course, is welcomed by a big brother, 8-year old Oscar, born on 08/08.
- Some twins around the world broke the rules, arriving one in one year and the other arriving only minutes later but on a different day in a new year: Lorraine Yaleni Begazo was born December 31, 2013, at 11:58 PM; her brother, Brandon Ferdinando, was born three minutes later the next day and next year at 12:01 AM in Washington, DC.
- Gabriela and Sophia Rodrigues were born at 11:52 PM and 12:00:38 AM, respectively, in Toronto, Canada.
Source: “US and World Population Clock.” United States Census Bureau. US Department of Commerce. Jan 7, 2014. Web. Jan 7, 2014.