The Most Common Christmas Names: Carol and Virginia

Once again, Whitepages, that huge storehouse of the names of people residing in the U.S., continues its practice of putting together interesting—and often humorous– statistical reports on the popularity of names, particularly focused on holidays.

And Christmas is no exception. The current list of Christmas names is of the twelve most festive first and last names in the country, released just in time for the holiday season. Carol (first name) and Bell (last name) were at the top, with 1,148,024 and 385,651 people sharing the names, respectively.

Rounding out the top five first names are Virginia (577,805 people), Holly (298,910 people), Jesus (284,001 people), and Joy (214,192 people). For last names, Noel took second place (41,100 people), followed by Rudolph (27,025), Joy (18,871), and Holly (12,438 ). Interestingly enough, there are 439 people with the first name Christmas, and 7,525 people with it as a last name.

“Many names on the lists are associated with seasonal songs or stories we all know and love, making this data the perfect holiday party conversation topic,” says Christine Morrell, culture and trend expert from Whitepages. “Another fun fact to share – there is one Kris Kringle in the U.S., but he’s not at the North Pole.”

Whitepages data also shows that Americans won’t be searching for Ebenezer Scrooge’s address for their holiday cards, as there is no one with that name in the U.S. (The company’s website and mobile app  searches do see an increase in consumers looking up addresses for friends and family during the final weeks of December, peaking with a 217% increase on Dec. 18th.)

The Whitepages Top 12 Holiday Names list breaks down how many people share the names in the U.S., as well as the states where the most people with these names are living—a disproportionate number of them in California.

Top Christmas Names

1. Carol – 1,148,024; 65,229 in Pennsylvania

2. Virginia – 577,805; 41,313 in California

3. Holly – 298,910; 21,041 in California

4. Jesus – 284,001; 89,465 in California

5. Joy – 214,192; 16,195 in Texas

6. Noel – 71,816; 10,536 in California

7. Rudolph – 47,598; 2,719 in Pennsylvania

8. Merry – 14,226; 560 in Michigan

9. Bell – 5,047; 296 in New York

10. Claus – 1,614; 70 in Washington

11. Christmas – 439; 32 in New York

12. Yule – 121; 22 in California

The 12 Last Names of Christmas

1. Bell – 385,651; 33,761 in Texas

2. Noel – 41,100; 4,896 in Florida

3. Rudolph – 27,025; 2,176 in California

4. Joy – 18,871; 1,470 in California

5. Holly – 12,438; 1,151 in California

6. Christmas – 7,525; 806 in Florida

7. Merry – 5,050; 385 in California

8. Claus – 4,979; 413 in California

9. Carol – 3,985; 546 in California

10. Jesus – 3,342; 990 in California

11. Virginia – 1,598; 327 in California

12. Yule – 1,506; 190 in California

To learn more about name popularity in the United States, you can visit: http://www.whitepages.com/.