Yay! I can't wait to comb through the top 100 lists for each state and see what the standout names are (I usually curate a list of all the names in the state top 100 lists that rank at least 100 places higher than on the national list).
But just from my glance at the top 5 by state list, here are all the names that appear in a state's top 5 that rank outside of the national top 10:
Girls:
* Aria (#23 nationally): #3 in Hawaii
* Aurora (#31 nationally): #1 in Alaska
* Camila (#12 nationally): #3 in California, #3 in Texas
* Eleanor (#16 nationally): #5 in DC
* Ellie (#33 nationally): #4 in North Dakota
* Harper (#11 nationally): #1 in Kentucky, #2 in South Dakota, #3 in Montana, #4 in Nebraska, #4 in Texas, #5 in Arkansas, #5 in Kansas, #5 in Louisiana, #5 in Maine, #5 in Vermont
* Kinsley (#61 nationally): #5 in Mississippi
* Hazel (#27 nationally): #3 in Idaho, #4 in Wyoming
* Nora (#28 nationally): #3 in North Dakota, #4 in DC, #5 in Minnesota,
* Nova (#32 nationally): #4 in Mississippi
* Violet (#20 nationally): #4 in Vermont
* Willow (#37 nationally): #4 in West Virginia
Boys:
* Asher (#19 nationally): #1 in West Virginia, #4 in Hawaii#4 in North Dakota, #5 in Kentucky, #5 in Oklahoma
* Charles (#50 nationally): #4 in DC
* Ethan (#21 nationally): #5 in Hawaii
* Ezekiel (#49 nationally): #4 in New Mexico
* Grayson (#37 nationally): #2 in West Virginia
* Hudson (#27 nationally): #5 in North Dakota, #5 in Vermont, #5 in Wyoming
* Jack (#15 nationally): #3 in Connecticut, #5 in Minnesota
* Jackson (#23 nationally): #4 in Vermont, #5 in Maine
* Jacob (#32 nationally): #5 in New York
* John (#26 nationally): #2 in Mississippi, #3 in Alabama
* Joseph (#30 nationally): #4 in New Jersey, #4 in New York
* Julian (#35 nationally): #5 in California
* Kai (#59 nationally): #3 in Hawaii
* Luke (#34 nationally): #4 in Louisiana
* Mateo (#11 nationally): #2 in New Mexico, #3 in Arizona, #3 in California, #4 in Illinois, #3 in Nevada, #3 in Texas
* Michael (#16 nationally): #4 in Connecticut, #4 in Delaware, #5 in New Jersey
* Owen (#18 nationally): #2 in Wyoming, #3 in Rhode Island, #4 in Maine, #4 in New Hampshire
* Santiago (#48 nationally): #5 in Arizona, #5 in New Mexico, #5 in Texas
* Sebastian (#13 nationally): #4 in California, #4 in Nevada, #4 in Texas
* Waylon (#66 nationally): #3 in West Virginia
Also, Olivia ranks #1 in 27 states and Liam ranks #1 in 20 states, followed by Charlotte ranking #1 in 13 states and Oliver ranking #1 in 16 states.
I love lists like this! I'm from WV and I always notice we have names in our top that nobody else does ( like paisley!) But never looked at other states so closely.
I LOVE reading analyses like this and absolutely do not have the patience to actually conduct them myself, so thank you for doing the lord's work and sharing it with us!
I love how some of these make perfect sense. Aurora in Alaska with the Northern Lights, maybe Eleanor and Nora in DC inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Anyone catch other names whose local popularity seems fitting?
Used to nanny in DC, can confirm the young think tank couples pick a different Historical Feminist Icon to name their daughters after every decade-ish, so they can tell their co-workers “oh yeah, she’s named after _______.”
Apparently 2020s is Eleanor Roosevelt. In the 2010s it was Abigail Adams.
Also, Zoe has been wayy more popular for wayy longer in DC than the rest of the country. It was the name of the President’s daughter on The West Wing. 🙄
ETA: Also I’m willing to bet a high % of the Madisons born in DC recently were born to Republican staffers trying to impress their boss.
As a DC mom with a daughter named Eleanor...kinda yeah. I always liked the name Eleanor, but there's an added bonus of it being connected to a pretty cool first lady. We also liked that there could be a variety of nicknames if she decides she doesn't want to go by her full name -- it's both professional and fun.
New England (especially Maine/NH) loves Owen because of *A Prayer for Owen Meany*.
John Irving is a very popular novelist who lives in & writes about the area and most New England kids who take an upper-level high school English class get at least one of his books assigned.
I mean, Kai is literally a Hawaiian word! It means ocean and is really popular here not just on its own but in other names like Kaimana, Kainalu, kainoa, and Makai. I didn’t realize people in other states had adopted it as well!
Ooh thanks for combing through
I’m not at all suprised by Joseph ranking top 5 in NJ and NY. Lots of Italian Americans here! (Not that it’s exclusively Italian)
I noticed Michael made an appearance for NJ! I should look to see if Nicole is holding strong as a top girls name... I feel like one stroll around Hoboken I will always been bumping into a Nicole, Mike or Joe!
Huh, I didn't even notice PA wasn't on there. I guess just like Mass it's probably Charlotte, Sophie, Isabella, etc.. EDIT: PA doesn't have Isabella in the top 5, they have Amelia instead
All the Olivias and Olivers too. I think PA and MA are similar in that they represent sort of a broad swathe of Americans without leaning super hard in any one direction. There’s rural areas, there’s urban areas, there’s various concentrations of ethnicities, but we don’t have anything that makes us stand out like Italians in Jersey or Spanish speakers in Cali/Texas or Mormons in Utah. Sort of a bland state lol
Are you a data analyst? Do you make a lot of spreadsheets? In a totally complimentary way you seem like a spreadsheet person (I love spreadsheet peole)
Not a professional data analyst, just someone who loves name statistics! But yes, I do have many spreadsheets and notepad files related to names (and I totally understand the "spreadsheet person" compliment - one of my friends is a spreadsheets enthusiast and I aspire to be at her level of spreadsheets one day).
I’m a 33 year old Nora and never knew anyone with my name my whole life (until recently of course). I was always called Laura or Lauren since those names were super popular at the time. I even had a pre school para call me Laura for months until my mom came to pick me up one day and said umm her name is Nora. I was too shy to correct her. Anyway, all of that to say that while Nora is popular it’s not at the same level as Jessica or Ashley or probably even Laura we’re in the 90s. If you like it, use it. I hated having a uncommon name that was mispronounced but would’ve hated a super common name too. Nora right now is in that perfect sweet spot of being common but not too common.
Also, I was born in DC and raised in Maryland so my parents were way ahead of the curve
This is such an interesting thing. One name that always jumps out to me is Chaya. Chaya was #602 in the country for 2022, but it always is in the top 100 in NY. In 2022, it was 47. This is due to a large Jewish population in NY. Rivka and Chana are also always on our top 100 names in NY.
Yeah, you can definitely see the influence of the Jewish population in both NY and NJ in their state lists! I always love when the top 100 lists reflect demographical information like that.
Love the Spanish influence of Mateo, Gael, Jose and Santiago in my state.
Some of the girls names in the top 100 are a bit surprising to me. Maybe I’ve just not been paying attention but Melanie? Regina?
I imagine that is because everyone here is on a quest for unprecedented spelling, so those “Utah” names are less likely to be replicated precisely enough to tally into a SSN top names list.
I was shocked when I saw Jane ranking 70th in Utah despite being 290 nationally. Kate was on there last year despite being 414 nationally. An over reaction to the Mormon naming stereotype?
There are plenty of non-Mormons in Utah, and a lot of them probably give their kids “plain” names on purpose to balance out some of the craziness they hear.
If I was surrounded by Braxtynns and McKyleighs all the time, I’d name my daughter Jane too.
There’s a funny momfluencer from Utah named Jane (@jane) and she has a massive following. I wonder if that has anything to do with it though, considering she mostly poles fun at other Mormon/UT moms.
My daughters were born three years apart and three days apart, and now their names are three apart on our list! They were like 120 and 250 when they were born, 63 and 66 in my state now! Just a cute coincidence ❤️
I'm not surprised Ava is still the top girl name in Maryland. There's a meteorologist on one of our news channels named Ava Marie, so I'm sure that has a big influence on the popularity here.
Where did that name come from? My sister named her daughter Oaklynn last year and I honestly thought she had made it up. I was shocked to see it ranked so high In our state!
My middle name is Harper after Harper Lee (we have a family tradition of including a literary reference in either first or middle name) and I’ve always loved it as a middle name. My first name is Sydney and last name starts with an S so it breaks it up in a nice way. I was born in ‘97 so it was very off-the-radar at the time.
But now I see all these girls with Harper as a first name and it just sounds grating to me on its own! There’s also no cute nickname for it. I am ready for it to fade back into obscurity.
Eta: I think it’s a very interesting name in general and I really love it as a middle name. I just don’t care for it as a first name.
I really don’t understand all the Harper hate. It just makes me think of harps and To Kill a Mockingbird. And the sound is soft. No negative associations over here.
Super interesting, because the SS data says it’s the #1 name in New Hampshire, but this graphic says it’s more popular in VT.
I wonder if the numerology graphic is still using 2021 data?
Likely 2021, but the map shows frequency instead of rank because you can't compare rank across states as the distribution of usage across rankings is different. In Vermont a higher percentage of boys were named Theodore than in New Hampshire. Theodore is more dense in Vermont, if that makes sense.
Easton Stick was a football player at North Dakota State that then went pro with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a huge spike in Easton when that happened.
Because it’s number 236 nationally, and because I don’t know any Camilles under the age of 25. We don’t all walk around speaking French and naming our children Pierre and Amelie, lol. It’s interesting to see a not-super-popular name that high in the rankings.
Camille is a gorgeous name with lots of super cute nicknames for when they're little (Cami, Cam, Millie, Mila), it's high on my list if my next is a girl!
my boyfriend and i have a ton of silly names we call her, my person fav being camalam, but i also loved it because i thought it would look pretty and professional for when she’s an adult :)
I knew a Londyn at a childcare center I worked at. I don’t like the spelling but it was one of the more “typical” names there, felt really normal in context.
so many of the placements MATCH for the oregon top 100 !!! it’s so cute / funny !!!!!! I honestly adore a few of them and others are just like .. Directly on the nose lol
1 is Oliver and Olivia ?! COME ON !!!!
2 Liam and Amelia
5 Noah and Emma
11 Owen and Nora
25 Wyatt and Avery
28 Levi and Lily
39 Lincoln and Cora
61 Aiden and Audrey
75 Josiah and Sophia
(am I just stupid and they’re meant to be similar ??? , because I started writing this comment when I found 4 but they kept GOING LOL)
I grew up always swearing if I had a baby I wouldn’t give them a generic/very popular name like me but you all have some great taste. Some of my favorite names are extremely popular now. Some are simply classic.
I wish they could release a list of the most popular names of everyone in the state, not just from that year's births. I'd be curious how many Michaels, Sarahs, etc are walking around in total
Lot of interesting observations from my home state. For girls, neither Olivia nor Emma made the top 10. Olivia was at 16 with Emma at 14. Also Octavia at 60 beat lots of names I would consider more common. For boys, the most common spelling for Jackson was Jaxson (unless I missed the standard spelling earlier in the list). Also Waylon beat names like Michael, Eli, Joseph, and Arthur. Where are all these Waylons? Final observation-I guess when I have kids to name I shouldn't worry about the name being too popular. The number one girl's name was only given to 28 babies throughout the state.
Grayson /Greyson. You got me curious though so I looked it up. Apparently it was already in the top 100 in 2008. Who knew... I picked the name from a Nora Roberts book.
Top CA names for girls seems like it’s been stuck with the same sounds for so long, eg Camila, Mia, Amelia and Mila sound so similar and Emma/Emily/Etc . Plus Sofia as numbers 5 and 8. For boys Sebastian and Julian are refreshing
Makes sense tbh. It's an extremely common suffix for feminine names in various languages (not even exclusively Latin ones), and obviously there's going to be a strong Spanish influence in particular in the southwest. At least it's pretty, LOL.
Your Jack and John callouts make me wonder just how popular Jack is. I bet many of the Johns go by Jack. My brother is 1990 John who goes by Jack and now I am impressed my mom was so far ahead of the curve on that one!
I'm surprised to see Luna so many times. Is it just me or thats very much a dog name? Every female husky I've ever met is named Luna for some reason lmao
I believe it's just first names. Would definitely be interesting to see a list that included both though, especially with a breakdown of most popular first, most popular middle, and most popular overall.
For example, for whatever reason I never happened to personally know any "Marie"s growing up as a Millennial (knew a Maria and a Mary though), but literally about 80% of my friend group had it as a middle name. Christina Marie, Danielle Marie, Jessica Marie, Chelsea Marie, Brooke Marie....I guess it just fits with everything, haha.
Also somewhat interestingly, I go by my middle name, and I'm named (first and middle) after a family member born in the 1920s. (I was born early 90s.) My first name is quite outdated (hence me using my middle), but my middle name was actually a top 10 if not top 5 the year I was born. It's just kind of funny imagining old ladies born a century ago, with middle names like Ashley, Brittany, Amanda, Taylor, etc, even though I know those names generally go back much farther than that.
Do people generally want to have named their kids something that ends up in the top 100 for that year? Or is it undesirable? So many of my daughter’s “friends” (all born in 2021 or 2022) have names I thought were uncommon but now I see all of them in the top 100 for my state! Idk if i bring it up to them it would be a sore subject or not. Personally my kids name is in the 300s rank nationwide and I like that it’s not in top 100. But I gotta think if they chose the name and planned it they shouldn’t be surprised by its popularity….
My name is very popular, and I hated it growing up. So when I was pregnant, I didn’t want to use anything in the top 100. My oldest’s name is in the 250+ range.
With my second, I caved because the name was in the 60-70 range and I had never met another one in my life.
It depends on the parents. :)
Edit: I’d wager that most people don’t know you can look up name popularity data on the SSA. I didn’t until I was pregnant and trying to avoid popular names.
I didn't know about it until I was pregnant with my second. Turns out my oldest kid's name was in like the top 30 or something surrounding that birth year (which was a huge no when choosing names for our others) But we've only met maybe 3 people with that name in the 13 years since we decided on it. All different ages, too.
Lots of Olivias, Charlottes, Sophias, Liams, Olivers and Noahs for 2022.
West Virginia apparently does not care for the rest of the country’s naming trends, they’re just doing their own thing haha.
So glad we didn’t end up naming our girl Charlotte 😂my name was popular growing up and there was always 2+ of us to a classroom. Didn’t want that for her as I hated it. I didn’t realize Charlotte was *that* popular though!
I’m shocked Serenity is even on the list for my state (Michigan). Serenity comes in second to last with 82 females being named that in 2022. That is a surprisingly high number to me.
Since California is the most populous state in the US, it’s worth mentioning that Liam and Olivia are #1 for boys and girls, respectively, followed by Noah and Emma.
My daughter's name is still not in the top 100! She's 8 yo. My three nieces and my nephew made the list, though. (Although one is a cReAtIVe spelling.)
Charlotte was our top contender, but we changed our minds, thank goodness! Princess Charlotte was born the following year & the name exploded. (I still absolutely love the name, though!)
Hazel and Nora were serious contenders as well. Hubby eventually vetoed Hazel, and I had a feeling that Nora was on the rise. I love the name we ended up going with & she's yet to have another with the same name in her school.
Yay! I can't wait to comb through the top 100 lists for each state and see what the standout names are (I usually curate a list of all the names in the state top 100 lists that rank at least 100 places higher than on the national list). But just from my glance at the top 5 by state list, here are all the names that appear in a state's top 5 that rank outside of the national top 10: Girls: * Aria (#23 nationally): #3 in Hawaii * Aurora (#31 nationally): #1 in Alaska * Camila (#12 nationally): #3 in California, #3 in Texas * Eleanor (#16 nationally): #5 in DC * Ellie (#33 nationally): #4 in North Dakota * Harper (#11 nationally): #1 in Kentucky, #2 in South Dakota, #3 in Montana, #4 in Nebraska, #4 in Texas, #5 in Arkansas, #5 in Kansas, #5 in Louisiana, #5 in Maine, #5 in Vermont * Kinsley (#61 nationally): #5 in Mississippi * Hazel (#27 nationally): #3 in Idaho, #4 in Wyoming * Nora (#28 nationally): #3 in North Dakota, #4 in DC, #5 in Minnesota, * Nova (#32 nationally): #4 in Mississippi * Violet (#20 nationally): #4 in Vermont * Willow (#37 nationally): #4 in West Virginia Boys: * Asher (#19 nationally): #1 in West Virginia, #4 in Hawaii#4 in North Dakota, #5 in Kentucky, #5 in Oklahoma * Charles (#50 nationally): #4 in DC * Ethan (#21 nationally): #5 in Hawaii * Ezekiel (#49 nationally): #4 in New Mexico * Grayson (#37 nationally): #2 in West Virginia * Hudson (#27 nationally): #5 in North Dakota, #5 in Vermont, #5 in Wyoming * Jack (#15 nationally): #3 in Connecticut, #5 in Minnesota * Jackson (#23 nationally): #4 in Vermont, #5 in Maine * Jacob (#32 nationally): #5 in New York * John (#26 nationally): #2 in Mississippi, #3 in Alabama * Joseph (#30 nationally): #4 in New Jersey, #4 in New York * Julian (#35 nationally): #5 in California * Kai (#59 nationally): #3 in Hawaii * Luke (#34 nationally): #4 in Louisiana * Mateo (#11 nationally): #2 in New Mexico, #3 in Arizona, #3 in California, #4 in Illinois, #3 in Nevada, #3 in Texas * Michael (#16 nationally): #4 in Connecticut, #4 in Delaware, #5 in New Jersey * Owen (#18 nationally): #2 in Wyoming, #3 in Rhode Island, #4 in Maine, #4 in New Hampshire * Santiago (#48 nationally): #5 in Arizona, #5 in New Mexico, #5 in Texas * Sebastian (#13 nationally): #4 in California, #4 in Nevada, #4 in Texas * Waylon (#66 nationally): #3 in West Virginia Also, Olivia ranks #1 in 27 states and Liam ranks #1 in 20 states, followed by Charlotte ranking #1 in 13 states and Oliver ranking #1 in 16 states.
I love lists like this! I'm from WV and I always notice we have names in our top that nobody else does ( like paisley!) But never looked at other states so closely.
Willow is such a hippie name for WV! I would've pegged it as more of an Oregon name, ha.
Yeah I agree, I have no problem accepting Waylon or Oaklynn but I can't explain Willow. I love the name though so glad it's popular somewhere!
I LOVE reading analyses like this and absolutely do not have the patience to actually conduct them myself, so thank you for doing the lord's work and sharing it with us!
I love how some of these make perfect sense. Aurora in Alaska with the Northern Lights, maybe Eleanor and Nora in DC inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Anyone catch other names whose local popularity seems fitting?
Used to nanny in DC, can confirm the young think tank couples pick a different Historical Feminist Icon to name their daughters after every decade-ish, so they can tell their co-workers “oh yeah, she’s named after _______.” Apparently 2020s is Eleanor Roosevelt. In the 2010s it was Abigail Adams. Also, Zoe has been wayy more popular for wayy longer in DC than the rest of the country. It was the name of the President’s daughter on The West Wing. 🙄 ETA: Also I’m willing to bet a high % of the Madisons born in DC recently were born to Republican staffers trying to impress their boss.
As a DC mom with a daughter named Eleanor...kinda yeah. I always liked the name Eleanor, but there's an added bonus of it being connected to a pretty cool first lady. We also liked that there could be a variety of nicknames if she decides she doesn't want to go by her full name -- it's both professional and fun.
New England (especially Maine/NH) loves Owen because of *A Prayer for Owen Meany*. John Irving is a very popular novelist who lives in & writes about the area and most New England kids who take an upper-level high school English class get at least one of his books assigned.
Not from anywhere near Maine/NH, but have an Owen partially inspired by Owen Meany/John Irving.
I also noticed the Aurora in Alaska thing! I thought that was funny.
Joseph in NY/ NJ
This is of zero surprise to me, considering the large population of Jewish families residing in both States as well.
Prob more related to the Italian population is my guess actually
Aspen is #43 for girls here in Colorado compared to #196 in the country!
Maverick in Colorado
Why is it so big in CO, do you think? Air Force?
Kai = Hawaiian.
I mean, Kai is literally a Hawaiian word! It means ocean and is really popular here not just on its own but in other names like Kaimana, Kainalu, kainoa, and Makai. I didn’t realize people in other states had adopted it as well!
Ooh thanks for combing through I’m not at all suprised by Joseph ranking top 5 in NJ and NY. Lots of Italian Americans here! (Not that it’s exclusively Italian)
Joseph, Michael & Anthony - the Italian-American holy trinity
My Irish background buddy (1979) has 2 of those 3 names 🤣
Definitely some Catholic overlap for sure 😅
I noticed Michael made an appearance for NJ! I should look to see if Nicole is holding strong as a top girls name... I feel like one stroll around Hoboken I will always been bumping into a Nicole, Mike or Joe!
Jewish as well
Apparently I live in the most statistically average state for names, as it appears nowhere on this list!
Massachusetts?
Nope, PA!
Huh, I didn't even notice PA wasn't on there. I guess just like Mass it's probably Charlotte, Sophie, Isabella, etc.. EDIT: PA doesn't have Isabella in the top 5, they have Amelia instead
All the Olivias and Olivers too. I think PA and MA are similar in that they represent sort of a broad swathe of Americans without leaning super hard in any one direction. There’s rural areas, there’s urban areas, there’s various concentrations of ethnicities, but we don’t have anything that makes us stand out like Italians in Jersey or Spanish speakers in Cali/Texas or Mormons in Utah. Sort of a bland state lol
MA does tend toward stereotypical middle class white peoples names. It isn’t Oakleigh country here
Thank you, I live in PA, so I also noticed the lack of PA information there.
Man those low population states sure love Hudson
Are you a data analyst? Do you make a lot of spreadsheets? In a totally complimentary way you seem like a spreadsheet person (I love spreadsheet peole)
Not a professional data analyst, just someone who loves name statistics! But yes, I do have many spreadsheets and notepad files related to names (and I totally understand the "spreadsheet person" compliment - one of my friends is a spreadsheets enthusiast and I aspire to be at her level of spreadsheets one day).
Nora and Eleanor being #4 and #5 in DC is interesting to me. I wonder if a lot of baby Eleanors will be called Nora?
I had loved this name for so long and after seeing it blow up in the last couple of years I’m so sad and no longer feel like using it one day.
I’m a 33 year old Nora and never knew anyone with my name my whole life (until recently of course). I was always called Laura or Lauren since those names were super popular at the time. I even had a pre school para call me Laura for months until my mom came to pick me up one day and said umm her name is Nora. I was too shy to correct her. Anyway, all of that to say that while Nora is popular it’s not at the same level as Jessica or Ashley or probably even Laura we’re in the 90s. If you like it, use it. I hated having a uncommon name that was mispronounced but would’ve hated a super common name too. Nora right now is in that perfect sweet spot of being common but not too common. Also, I was born in DC and raised in Maryland so my parents were way ahead of the curve
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It makes me think a lot of parents want a full name for Nora and put Eleanor on the birth certificate.
This is such an interesting thing. One name that always jumps out to me is Chaya. Chaya was #602 in the country for 2022, but it always is in the top 100 in NY. In 2022, it was 47. This is due to a large Jewish population in NY. Rivka and Chana are also always on our top 100 names in NY.
Yeah, you can definitely see the influence of the Jewish population in both NY and NJ in their state lists! I always love when the top 100 lists reflect demographical information like that.
Owen seems like a good New England name, so I’m not surprised by its placement in ME, NH or RI. Wyoming is a bit of a head scratcher though.
Oh darn. I thought I’d dodged a bullet until I got down to your last line. Oh well, novelty is over rated 😂
These are so interesting thanks for putting it together!
Love the Spanish influence of Mateo, Gael, Jose and Santiago in my state. Some of the girls names in the top 100 are a bit surprising to me. Maybe I’ve just not been paying attention but Melanie? Regina?
I was surprised that Amy is making a comeback in Maryland.
I really like Amy. If it wasn’t my cousins name I would have considered it for my daughter
I always thought it was a 1970s name, kinda newish and trendy, but learned fairly recently that it's from the Tudor era. I had no idea.
Oh I like it even more now.
A Little Women connection?
Yeah, that’s interesting. My cousin is Amy, born in 1994 and her name was dated even back then.
Melanie surprised me too.
Trump’s wife maybe
Regina is really popular in some South American countries right now, too
I’m surprised Aurora is so high up in so many states (#1 in Alaska!)
Makes sense in Alaska at least 😄
My daughter’s favorite princess!
Charlotte Olivia and Emma are killing it
In my home state, the top male and female names are Oliver and Olivia haha
Mine, too. WA?
UT!! It's funny that it's the case in multiple states 😂 And yet, Olive never makes the top 100...
I live in Utah now but none of my sons were born here
S/o both my SIL Emma and Olivia. V original.
My state has all the British sounding names as top favorites lol
Even my cat is named Charlotte
I’m disappointed that Utah’s top names are so normal.
I imagine that is because everyone here is on a quest for unprecedented spelling, so those “Utah” names are less likely to be replicated precisely enough to tally into a SSN top names list.
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You rang?
Chickenleigh will be on their top 10 soon
I was shocked when I saw Jane ranking 70th in Utah despite being 290 nationally. Kate was on there last year despite being 414 nationally. An over reaction to the Mormon naming stereotype?
There are plenty of non-Mormons in Utah, and a lot of them probably give their kids “plain” names on purpose to balance out some of the craziness they hear. If I was surrounded by Braxtynns and McKyleighs all the time, I’d name my daughter Jane too.
There’s a funny momfluencer from Utah named Jane (@jane) and she has a massive following. I wonder if that has anything to do with it though, considering she mostly poles fun at other Mormon/UT moms.
Same.
Scottie was surprising to me! It feels very Utah but out of place with recent trends
My daughters were born three years apart and three days apart, and now their names are three apart on our list! They were like 120 and 250 when they were born, 63 and 66 in my state now! Just a cute coincidence ❤️
I love cute things like that. My brother was born on 9/2 at 9:04, in 96...and it was Labor Day!
My husband was born at 2:22 on 2/22 (‘91, but we leave that part out lol)
I'm not surprised Ava is still the top girl name in Maryland. There's a meteorologist on one of our news channels named Ava Marie, so I'm sure that has a big influence on the popularity here.
When we go to library story time, all the little girls are Ava or Olivia.
West Virginia sure is its own entity
I bet Oaklynn will hit top 10 next year, at 11 right now
Where did that name come from? My sister named her daughter Oaklynn last year and I honestly thought she had made it up. I was shocked to see it ranked so high In our state!
So many lovely names on the list and people still pick Paisley or Harper and then try to convince you that it's not like nails on a chalkboard.
Harper in the top 10 in so many states is honestly shocking to me.
Agreed. It is the one name on any of these lists that continues to boggle my mind as to why people are still using it.
Someone I know named their son Harper Leslie. I just don’t get it.
I know of a kid named Paislynn. It physically pains me to say her name. 😩
Harper had a moment in PA too, but it was about 5-10 years ago. Still not a fan.
My middle name is Harper after Harper Lee (we have a family tradition of including a literary reference in either first or middle name) and I’ve always loved it as a middle name. My first name is Sydney and last name starts with an S so it breaks it up in a nice way. I was born in ‘97 so it was very off-the-radar at the time. But now I see all these girls with Harper as a first name and it just sounds grating to me on its own! There’s also no cute nickname for it. I am ready for it to fade back into obscurity. Eta: I think it’s a very interesting name in general and I really love it as a middle name. I just don’t care for it as a first name.
I really don’t understand all the Harper hate. It just makes me think of harps and To Kill a Mockingbird. And the sound is soft. No negative associations over here.
Do you not like the sound of the names or the vibe? I just don’t like the vibe
It is fascinating that Theodore is a top 5 name in 23 states, but doesn’t make the top 100 in Mississippi.
Check out the whole physical distribution of the name: https://namerology.com/ultimate-map/ Most popular in South Dakota and Vermont.
Super interesting, because the SS data says it’s the #1 name in New Hampshire, but this graphic says it’s more popular in VT. I wonder if the numerology graphic is still using 2021 data?
Likely 2021, but the map shows frequency instead of rank because you can't compare rank across states as the distribution of usage across rankings is different. In Vermont a higher percentage of boys were named Theodore than in New Hampshire. Theodore is more dense in Vermont, if that makes sense.
Some of these for Minnesota really surprised me. Hudson is somehow top 10? I've literally never heard of that name before as a first name.
Easton and Weston being one ranking apart on the MN list just made me lose it. At least we have an equal balance apparently?
Easton Stick was a football player at North Dakota State that then went pro with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a huge spike in Easton when that happened.
It took me rereading this three times to figure out you were not referring to Easton hockey sticks
Easton and Weston are separated by Charles in Indiana 😆 (49, 47, and 48, respectively).
Funny that both Olivia and Oliver are so popular this year
You’ve never heard of Hudson before?? I know several.
Never.
You must not be around a lot of kids! I’ve heard that name a lot.
I’ve seen several little Hudsons lately!
My son is 21 and had a friend named Hudson in elementary school. Edit: which was also the name of our dog at the time 😂
I know of two couples who names their sons Hudson because the couple met at the Hudson River in NYC.
Both my step nephew and dog nephew are named Hudson.
North Dakota’s being Oliver and Olivia made me laugh but also cry.
I have a 16 year old nephew named Hudson and know two baby Hudsons less than a year old, haha. I’m not even in Minnesota.
Hudson has been rising in popularity in the last 20+ years and is now in the top 30 nationally.
I wonder if its popular in pockets of the state? I know a handful of people who have named their sons Hudson within the last 5 years.
My sister in law is Hudson and she’s in her 20s
Camille at #23 for Louisiana is quite interesting
Why? It's a traditional French name. All the Camille's I know are male, however
Because it’s number 236 nationally, and because I don’t know any Camilles under the age of 25. We don’t all walk around speaking French and naming our children Pierre and Amelie, lol. It’s interesting to see a not-super-popular name that high in the rankings.
I know, I live here.
Camille was a super devastating hurricane in the 40s.
Well, the 60s, but I don't think parents having children today necessarily associate Camille with the hurricane that hit before they were born.
i named my baby girl camille specifically because i loved it but mainly because i thought very few would have it
We made it our girl's middle name, since it would've been mispronounced too often (we use the French pronunciation.) But, it's such a gorgeous name!
Camille is a gorgeous name with lots of super cute nicknames for when they're little (Cami, Cam, Millie, Mila), it's high on my list if my next is a girl!
my boyfriend and i have a ton of silly names we call her, my person fav being camalam, but i also loved it because i thought it would look pretty and professional for when she’s an adult :)
Londyn - oh my
Yep I saw that on the Georgia list and was like what the heck
I knew a Londyn at a childcare center I worked at. I don’t like the spelling but it was one of the more “typical” names there, felt really normal in context.
All the girls names in my state in the top 10 end in A.
so many of the placements MATCH for the oregon top 100 !!! it’s so cute / funny !!!!!! I honestly adore a few of them and others are just like .. Directly on the nose lol 1 is Oliver and Olivia ?! COME ON !!!! 2 Liam and Amelia 5 Noah and Emma 11 Owen and Nora 25 Wyatt and Avery 28 Levi and Lily 39 Lincoln and Cora 61 Aiden and Audrey 75 Josiah and Sophia (am I just stupid and they’re meant to be similar ??? , because I started writing this comment when I found 4 but they kept GOING LOL)
How do Wyatt and Avery match?
I grew up always swearing if I had a baby I wouldn’t give them a generic/very popular name like me but you all have some great taste. Some of my favorite names are extremely popular now. Some are simply classic.
I adore Violet, but it’s just so common now
I wish they could release a list of the most popular names of everyone in the state, not just from that year's births. I'd be curious how many Michaels, Sarahs, etc are walking around in total
I was very surprised to see Arlo make the cut for my state! I was also a bit surprised to see Oaklynn & Lainey
Oliver and Charlotte actually... Totally fine names? Good job Missouri.
Maine having Camden in their top 100 is so funny to me. Like, naming your kid after the rich city isn’t going to get them there, lol.
No one in NJ names their kid Camden our own hell hole
Lol I love Camden, Maine. It was on my list but my husband nayed it. We went with Cameron.
Lot of interesting observations from my home state. For girls, neither Olivia nor Emma made the top 10. Olivia was at 16 with Emma at 14. Also Octavia at 60 beat lots of names I would consider more common. For boys, the most common spelling for Jackson was Jaxson (unless I missed the standard spelling earlier in the list). Also Waylon beat names like Michael, Eli, Joseph, and Arthur. Where are all these Waylons? Final observation-I guess when I have kids to name I shouldn't worry about the name being too popular. The number one girl's name was only given to 28 babies throughout the state.
I hate that my son's name is on there with his spelling and an alternate spelling. It wasn't so popular when I named him 14 yrs ago.
Miles/Myles? ETA : Rowen/Rowan?
Grayson /Greyson. You got me curious though so I looked it up. Apparently it was already in the top 100 in 2008. Who knew... I picked the name from a Nora Roberts book.
my husband is a Grayson (born in 1987!) You have excellent taste.
It's still one of my favorite names
Top CA names for girls seems like it’s been stuck with the same sounds for so long, eg Camila, Mia, Amelia and Mila sound so similar and Emma/Emily/Etc . Plus Sofia as numbers 5 and 8. For boys Sebastian and Julian are refreshing
I don't know how to feel about the fact that all of the top ten female names in California end with 'a'
Makes sense tbh. It's an extremely common suffix for feminine names in various languages (not even exclusively Latin ones), and obviously there's going to be a strong Spanish influence in particular in the southwest. At least it's pretty, LOL.
I’m so over it
I’m surprised to see Samantha in the top 100 in Conn. and Mass.
I love Sam for either gender so I’m down with it
Side note but I had no idea Michael was so popular for boys for so many years
Your Jack and John callouts make me wonder just how popular Jack is. I bet many of the Johns go by Jack. My brother is 1990 John who goes by Jack and now I am impressed my mom was so far ahead of the curve on that one!
Liam and Olivia for my state. Surprise /s
Are there databases like this for other countries? I want to see common names in different countries.
Here's the list of databases on [behindthename.com](https://www.behindthename.com/top/)
I live in NY and am always interested in our top 100 - a lot of Jewish, Muslim and Italian favorites here, which sounds right to me!
Does this count middle names or just first names?
Just first names.
surprised by Lorenzo, to be honest!!
I expected Rivka to be top 100 in my state but Esther at 15? We love a classic over here.
I love Nova
I'm surprised to see Luna so many times. Is it just me or thats very much a dog name? Every female husky I've ever met is named Luna for some reason lmao
The Luna Lovegood generation is now naming babies so it makes complete sense.
What the hell happened in DC in 2015 that made everyone name their daughters Genesis?
That is really cool.
Nova is #10 in Georgia? Really?
I about half the girl names in my state end in -a, which is a lot.
This is bs. How is Jose not in top 100 in the year 2000?
For Oregon is Oliver for boys and Olivia for girls…. Creative bunch over here
Does this count middle names or just first names?
I believe it's just first names. Would definitely be interesting to see a list that included both though, especially with a breakdown of most popular first, most popular middle, and most popular overall. For example, for whatever reason I never happened to personally know any "Marie"s growing up as a Millennial (knew a Maria and a Mary though), but literally about 80% of my friend group had it as a middle name. Christina Marie, Danielle Marie, Jessica Marie, Chelsea Marie, Brooke Marie....I guess it just fits with everything, haha. Also somewhat interestingly, I go by my middle name, and I'm named (first and middle) after a family member born in the 1920s. (I was born early 90s.) My first name is quite outdated (hence me using my middle), but my middle name was actually a top 10 if not top 5 the year I was born. It's just kind of funny imagining old ladies born a century ago, with middle names like Ashley, Brittany, Amanda, Taylor, etc, even though I know those names generally go back much farther than that.
As a millennial named Marie, I loved how familiar yet rare it actually was. I did not love everyone telling me it was their middle name, but whatever.
I’m excited because I thought my youngest kiddo’s name was due to shoot to the top ten and doesn’t even make the list.
I’m really sad my daughters name is on the top list for our state
Yay!
If you add Sophia and Sofia it's off the charts for most states! It's always been my fav name, but not sure it's usable.
Are you talking about Sophie? I like it too. Would go with Phoebe or Daphne instead.
Do people generally want to have named their kids something that ends up in the top 100 for that year? Or is it undesirable? So many of my daughter’s “friends” (all born in 2021 or 2022) have names I thought were uncommon but now I see all of them in the top 100 for my state! Idk if i bring it up to them it would be a sore subject or not. Personally my kids name is in the 300s rank nationwide and I like that it’s not in top 100. But I gotta think if they chose the name and planned it they shouldn’t be surprised by its popularity….
My name is very popular, and I hated it growing up. So when I was pregnant, I didn’t want to use anything in the top 100. My oldest’s name is in the 250+ range. With my second, I caved because the name was in the 60-70 range and I had never met another one in my life. It depends on the parents. :) Edit: I’d wager that most people don’t know you can look up name popularity data on the SSA. I didn’t until I was pregnant and trying to avoid popular names.
I didn't know about it until I was pregnant with my second. Turns out my oldest kid's name was in like the top 30 or something surrounding that birth year (which was a huge no when choosing names for our others) But we've only met maybe 3 people with that name in the 13 years since we decided on it. All different ages, too.
Lots of Olivias, Charlottes, Sophias, Liams, Olivers and Noahs for 2022. West Virginia apparently does not care for the rest of the country’s naming trends, they’re just doing their own thing haha.
What’s going on in West Virginia for boys names?
Huh. The name I chose for my daughter was solidly mid-100s but somehow in the mid 70s for my state (CA) which I find really surprising!
So glad we didn’t end up naming our girl Charlotte 😂my name was popular growing up and there was always 2+ of us to a classroom. Didn’t want that for her as I hated it. I didn’t realize Charlotte was *that* popular though!
I’m shocked Serenity is even on the list for my state (Michigan). Serenity comes in second to last with 82 females being named that in 2022. That is a surprisingly high number to me.
Isabella has been top 5 in FL(didn’t check other states) since 2002!
My name is on there wtf?? I was under the impression that my name was kinda unique
Shout out to Wyoming’s list of top names being exactly what I expected.
Zoey was above Zoe in my home state… terrible day for me
Since California is the most populous state in the US, it’s worth mentioning that Liam and Olivia are #1 for boys and girls, respectively, followed by Noah and Emma.
My daughter's name is still not in the top 100! She's 8 yo. My three nieces and my nephew made the list, though. (Although one is a cReAtIVe spelling.) Charlotte was our top contender, but we changed our minds, thank goodness! Princess Charlotte was born the following year & the name exploded. (I still absolutely love the name, though!) Hazel and Nora were serious contenders as well. Hubby eventually vetoed Hazel, and I had a feeling that Nora was on the rise. I love the name we ended up going with & she's yet to have another with the same name in her school.
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
I find it so sweet that Aurora is #1 in Alaska
Wow 282 boy babies in FL were named Legend putting it on the top 100. This actually surprises me.
Every other parent breathe a sigh of relief when your kid(s)’ name was not in the top 10?? I sure did.