2013 Baby Names: The state of the States’ popularity
By Linda Rosenkrantz
Now that Social Security has released the top names for every state, we can move beyond the broad nationwide picture and delve into the more regional patterns. As you’ll see below, far from every state was on board with newly crowned Noah—in fact he topped the lists of only three states. Also it’s interesting to see how various favorites spill over shared borders, such as which names were common primarily in New England (Benjamin!), the South (Brooklyn!) and the West (Harper!), as well as such idiosyncrasies as Paisley being a Top 5 name in Wyoming, Lincoln in the Utah Top 10 and Aria a top name in Hawaii.
TOP 5 GIRLS
Though Sophia, Emma, Olivia, Isabella and Ava were the Top 5 nationwide, Sophia was at the top of the list in only 11 states, while Emma ruled in 27, Olivia in seven, Ava in three and Isabella in two. The one outlier? Charlotte was in the lead in the District of Columbia.
Other more individualistic choices among the girls:
Aubrey (#17 nationally) came in at Number 4 in Mississippi, #5 in Louisiana
Avery ((#12) was #5 in Nebraska
Evelyn (#20) was #5 in Wisconsin
Genesis—(#55) was the fourth most popular name in DC.
Harper (#16)—is definitely on the way up, especially in middle and western America—she ranked # 2 In Iowa and South Dakota, #3 in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota, #5 in Kansas: a pretty sure bet for the Top 10 next year
Paisley (#80 nationally!) ranked at #5 in Wyoming.
Moving on to include the Top 10, we find some other anomalies:
Addison—#7 in Arkansas and Mississippi, 8 in Missouri, 6 in Idaho and Kentucky, 9 in North Carolina and North Dakota, 10 in Indiana and Ohio
Alexis–#9 in SD
Amelia–#6 in Vermont, 7 in Oregon and DC, 9 in Minnesota, 10 in Alaska and Illinois
Aria—(#40 nationally) #7 in Hawaii
Brooklyn—#6 in Mississippi, 8 in Alabama and Arkansas, 10 in Louisiana, 7 in Montana, 9 in Utah
Camila—(39 nationally) #8 in California
Eleanor—#10 in DC
Grace—#9 in New Hampshire, 8 in SD
Lillian—#6 in Indiana, 7 in Ohio, 9 in WV, 10 in Wyoming
Serenity (53)—#10 in New Mexico
Taylor—#8 in Mississippi
Zoe—#6 in DC
Zoey–#10 in Iowa
BOYS TOP 5
There was quite a bit more diversity on the blue side. The Top 5 on the national list were Noah, Liam, Jacob, Mason and William, but Noah was Number 1 in only three states: Arizona, Illinois and New Mexico. Liam, on the other hand, ranked highest in 18, Jacob in the populous states of California, New York and Texas; Mason in nine states and William in fourteen, while Michael still ruled at the top in Delaware and New Jersey, and Jayden was first in Florida, Benjamin in Massachusetts, and Ethan in Nevada.
Other top-5 names:
Aiden—#4 in Delaware, 5 in Louisiana and Mississippi
Alexander—#4 in Arizona and Colorado, 2 in Washington State, Washington DC and Illinois
Benjamin—#1 in Massachusetts, 2 in Maine, 3 in Rhode Island, 4 in Oregon and 5 in New Hampshire
Bentley (81 nationally!)-–#5 in West Virginia
Carter–# 5 in Idaho and Michigan, 3 in Iowa, Wyoming and South Dakota, 4 in Maine and Nebraska
Daniel—#5 in Arkansas, and Texas 3 in California
Easton (88!)—5 in North Dakota
Elijah—#2 in New Mexico, 3 in North Carolina, Tennessee and Oregon, 4 in Georgia and Louisiana, 5 in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Arkansas
Henry—#3 in DC, 4 in Minnesota
Hunter—#4 in West Virginia and Wyoming, 5 in Montana
Jackson–#3 in Colorado and Maine, 5 in Kansas, 4 in Missouri and NH
James—#3 in Alabama, Utah and South Carolina, 4 in Arkansas and Tennessee, 5 in Georgia, 4 in Kentucky
Jaxon–#5 in Oklahoma
John—#4 in Alabama, Mississippi and DC,
Logan—#4 in Pennsylvania, 5 in Hawaii, Wisconsin and Minnesota
Matthew—#5 in California, 2 in New Jersey
Owen—#4 in Iowa and Wisconsin, 2 in Vermont
Ryan—#4 in Massachusetts
Samuel—#4 in Idaho, 5 in Maine and Utah
Wyatt—#4 in Alaska and Montana, 2 in Idaho and Wyoming
And again moving on to the Top 10 lists, some standouts:
Anthony—#10 in Florida, 6 in Nevada and New Jersey
Brayden (48)—#7 in West Virginia
Christopher—#8 in Mississippi
Dylan—#10 in Connecticut
Gabriel—#16 in New Mexico, 10 in Montana
Isaac—#9 in Kansas, 6 in Nebraska
Lucas—#6 in Michigan, 8 in Indiana, 10 in Maine and Massachusetts