The Baby Name Each State Uses More Than Any Other

Quick Facts

• The most popular boy name Liam is most popular in Delaware where 2.1% of baby boys are named Liam.
• The most popular girl name Olivia nationally is most popular in Wyoming where 2.5% are named Olivia. You won’t see it on the chart because Charlotte is even more popular in Wyoming with a staggering 3.2% of girls named Charlotte. 
• Wyoming is the most conventional state- using the fewest amount of names for their children.
• Texas has the most out there, unique baby names.
• Location names are less popular in the location they share a name with. So you’ll find more baby Dallases by percentage in Alabama than Texas.
• Oregon may simply be the most indecisive state, with the highest number of parents unable to select a name prior to registering their babies’ birth with the government- leading to the most “Unknown” baby boys and girls.
• Girl names are more unique than boy names, with 211% more girl names in use than boy names.

Parents take inspiration from diverse sources when naming their child, including family history, religious background, pop culture, and sometimes just a name they (and everyone else) plain like the sound of.

Geography can also play a role in what people choose to name their children. In fact, the names around you might be pretty different from the names being shouted in a playground in the next state over. For instance, the name Bridger is one of the most popular boy names in Wyoming, but super rare everywhere else.

It made us wonder; Are there some names that are just more Missouri than others? What about New York or Alabama? What names are more common where?

We used data from The Social Security Administration to uncover what boy baby name and what girl baby name each state used more than any other state. Keep reading to see the both maps, a table, and how we figured this one out:

The boy name each state uses more than any other state

The girl name each state uses more than any other state

Methodology

Our goal was to find a boy and girl name each state used more than any other state.

Using the most recent year of data from the Social Security Administration, we took all the boy and girl names and number of occurrences. This gave us a staggering number of names, 139,795 names (95,004 girl and 44,791 boy) for all the states.

From there, we found the percentage of use each name made up out of all the boy and girl names respectively in each state. We went then from most popular, down, to find the most common name each state used more than any other name. 

For example, we found that 2.8% of boys were named Henry in Vermont, while 2.3% were named Oliver. Vermont uses both of these names more than any other state. However, Henry was used for more boys so Henry was the most common/most Vermont name.

For some states, we had to go pretty far down the list to find a name they used more than any other state- leading to some of the less common names you see featured.

All names with less than 5 incidents in a state were excluded by the SSA in the interest of privacy. This means that smaller states with smaller populations tend to be slightly over represented in the reported names. However, it should still be a pretty decent broad (and hopefully fun) look at names across the country.

Don’t Worry, Liam, Olivia, And Their Ilk Are Still Wildly Common Nationally

There are still a ton of Liams and Olivias in every state. There are just a higher percentage of them in certain states. Even in states where less common names are disproportionately common, the names you’ll see on personalized keychains still run rampant.

However, the data is clear that certain states simply use some names more prominently. 

You can see a table featuring each state below. However, if you have more questions (or simply want to see a breakdown of a specific name) feel free to email me at parentingbynumber@gmail.com. I have a staggering amount of name data I need to justify gathering.