Particle.news
Download on the App Store
20 ARTICLES
·
11h ago

Harlem’s Stroke-of-Midnight Birth Leads New Year’s First Babies in NYC and Chicago

The newborn’s name will be shared in one week under the Niang family’s tradition.

Image
Image
Image
Parents Shaniqua Jones and Brandon Antwon Whittington hold their newborn son, Brandon Alexander Whittington, on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago after he was born on New Year’s Day at 12:06 a.m. and 41 seconds. (Mount Sinai Hospital)

Overview

  • NYC Health + Hospitals confirmed a baby girl born at exactly 12:00 a.m. at Harlem Hospital to Oumy and Amadou Niang as the city’s first birth of 2026, weighing 7 lb 2.8 oz and measuring 21.26 inches, ending a recent run of Brooklyn firsts.
  • The child is the Niangs’ fifth and their fourth delivered at Harlem Hospital, and mom and newborn are reported to be in good health.
  • Other New York deliveries followed, including a boy named Liam at NYU Langone at 12:56 a.m. and Queens’ first baby at Elmhurst at 3:29 a.m., Liam Steven Bunay Marcatoma.
  • In Chicago, Mount Sinai Hospital reported Brandon Alexander Whittington’s birth at 12:06 a.m., believed to be the city’s first of 2026 at 7 lb 13 oz to parents Shaniqua Jones and Brandon Antwon Whittington.
  • Regional hospitals around Chicago also marked first arrivals, including Matthew at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Bolingbrook at 1:46 a.m., Winona at Advocate Christ at 12:50 a.m., Juliana at Northwestern Medicine Prentice at 12:20 a.m., and Kendall at Ascension Saint Alexius at 12:02 a.m.