The Illinois Department of Public Health recently released figures for various Illinois “vital statistics,” which details various records on names, births, deaths, marriages and divorces for the year 2000.

According to the report, Jacob has replaced Michael as the most popular boy’s name.

Michael had been the most popular boy’s name since the IDPH began keeping records in 1968.

In addition, Emily held the lead as the most popular girl’s name for yet another year.

It has been the most popular girl’s name for the past four years.

Jacob beat out Michael by a score of 1,640 to 1,553 – the number of newborn babies given the name in 2000.

As for other popular boy’s names, Jacob was followed by Michael, Matthew, Daniel, Nicholas, Joseph, Joshua, Anthony, Andrew and Ryan, respectively.

For girls names, Emily was followed by Hannah, Jessica, Alexis, Samantha, Grace, Elizabeth, Ashley, Madison and Sarah, respectively.

BIRTHS

The total birth count for 2000 was 185,003 with the oldest father listed as 81 and the oldest mother noted as 54.

The records also said the youngest father was 12 and the youngest mother in Illinois in 2000 was 11.

However, the median age for parents at time of birth is 30.7 for fathers and 27.9 for mothers.

The smallest live birth was 4 ounces in 2000, while the largest live birth was 16 pounds and 4 ounces.

The day on which the most births occurred in 2000 was Sept. 19, but the month in which the most babies were born in Illinois was August with 16,525 births.

The fewest births of 2000 occurred on Dec. 25, but February was the month in which the fewest births occurred overall.

DEATHS

The oldest male to die in Illinois in 2000 was 108, while the oldest female was 114, the report said.

The day most deaths occurred in 2000 was Jan. 1 and January was the month of most deaths overall, with 10,952.

The average age for an Illinois female at death was 80.9, but the median age for males fell earlier at 73.9.

MARRIAGES

During 2000 over 85,000 people tied the knot in Illinois.

The oldest groom was 94 and the oldest bride was slightly younger at 91.

Sixteen was the magic number for the youngest bride and groom ages in Illinois.

Despite those figures, the median age for grooms equaled out to 30 and for brides it was 28.1.

September was the most popular month for weddings, with 10,659 of them celebrated.

DIVORCES

Even though over 80,000 Illinoisans were married in 2000, almost 40,000 residents got divorced.

The oldest male divorcee was listed as 93, and the youngest male divorcee was 17.

The youngest female to divorce was 15, while the oldest female divorcee was 85.

The median age for male divorcees was 38.1 and that number age was 36 for females.

March ranked as the month with the most divorces, 3,733, but January, the month of the least divorces, came in only 600 divorces less then March.