How popular is the baby name Jackson in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Jackson and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Jackson.

The graph will take a few seconds to load, thanks for your patience. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take nine months.) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the Baby Name Jackson

Number of Babies Named Jackson

Born in the U.S. Since 1880

Posts that Mention the Name Jackson

Biggest Changes, Baby Boy Names, 2017

Which boy names increased the most in popularity from 2016 to 2017? And which ones decreased the most?

There are a few different ways to answer this question. The SSA, for instance, likes to look at ranking differences within the top 1,000. And I like to augment their list by looking at raw number differences across all the data.

So let’s look at increases first…

Boy Names: Biggest Increases, 2016 to 2017

Rankings

1. Wells, +504 spots
2. Kairo, +423
3. Caspian, +328
4. Nova, +323
5. Colson, +323
6. Kace, +315
7. Kashton, +302
8. Koa, +294
9. Gatlin, +282
10. Bjorn, +276

Wells was influenced by Wells Adams, a contestant from The Bachelorette. Nova may have been influenced by “all those Villanova Wildcats basketball fans naming their sons in celebration of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions.”

Raw Numbers

1. Logan, +2,748 babies
2. Maverick, +1,751
3. Ezekiel, +1,350
4. Mateo, +1,181
5. Lincoln, +1,032
6. Theodore, +1,018
7. Matias, +643
8. Leo, +642
9. Jameson, +639
10. Rowan, +637

Other names that saw raw number increases in the 300+ range included Asher, Santiago, Ezra, Rhett, Waylon, and Legend.

And now let’s check out decreases…

Boy Names: Biggest Decreases, 2016 to 2017

Rankings

1. Riaan, -421 spots
2. Kylo, -245
3. Kolby, -195
4. Urijah, -189
5. Kamdyn, -189
6. Jamar, -163
7. Giovani, -160
8. Nickolas, -155
9. Chad, -155
10. Jair, -147

The higher they climb, the harder they fall: Riaan was the fastest-rising boy name of 2015, and Kylo was the fastest-rising boy name of 2016, and now they’re both plummeting in 2017.

Raw Numbers

1. Mason, -1,728 babies
2. Michael, -1,478
3. Ethan, -1,417
4. Jacob, -1,373
5. Daniel, -1,281
6. Andrew, -1,161
7. Gabriel, -1,124
8. Anthony, -1,049
9. Matthew, -994
10. Owen, -970

Other names that saw raw number drops in the (negative) 300+ range included Aiden, Jackson, Gavin, Ryder, Jase, Hudson, and Tristan.

Do you have any explanations for the name movement above? If so, please comment!

Sources: Change in Popularity, SSA, Emma and Liam Top Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names for 2017

Popular Baby Names in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2017

According to the Vital Statistics Division of Service NL, the most popular baby names in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2017 were Ava and Benjamin.

Here are the province’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Ava
2. Charlotte/Charlette
3. Olivia
4. Lilly/Lily/Lillei
5. Emma
6. Mia/Miya/Myah/Mya
7. Callie/Cali/Calleigh/Kallie/Kali
8. Amelia/Emilia
9. Emily
10. Avery/Averi

Boy Names
1. Benjamin/Benjamyn
2. Jack/Jak
3. Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson/Jaxin
4. Connor/Conor/Conner
5. Grayson/Greyson/Greycen
6. William
7. Luke
8. Jacob/Jakob
9. Noah
10. Liam

The #1 name for girls, Ava, didn’t even feature in the the top 10 in 2016.

Here are the 2017 baby name rankings for the rest of Atlantic Canada: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

Source: Top 100 Baby Names – Open Data Newfoundland and Labrador

Popular and Unique Baby Names in Iowa, 2016

I love that the Social Security Administration releases so much baby name data to the public. But I’ve always had mixed feelings about that 5-baby threshold for inclusion. (Due to privacy concerns, the government doesn’t release names given to fewer than 5 babies per gender, per year.)

Part of me appreciates the threshold. For instance, I like that it adds significance to the pop culture debut names I’m always posting about, as these names had to hit a certain minimum level of usage in order to register in the data.

But the other part of me? The other part just really, really wants to see those rare/crazy names at the bottom of the list.

So I get excited when I find U.S. data from an official source that does go down to single-instance usage. Up until recently, I only knew about Sonoma County and Los Angeles County, but recently I discovered that Iowa (an entire state!) also releases down-to-1 baby name data. Yay!

But before we get to the rare names, let’s look at the state of Iowa’s top baby names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 203 baby girls
2. Emma, 181
3. Charlotte, 158
4. Harper, 156
5. Ava & Evelyn, 148 each (2-way tie)
6. Amelia, 125
7. Nora, 123
8. Sophia, 112
9. Addison, 101
10. Grace, 96

Boy Names
1. Oliver, 197 baby boys
2. Owen, 178
3. William, 174
4. Wyatt, 170
5. Henry, 165
6. Liam, 159
7. Noah, 149
8. Benjamin, 148
9. Jackson, 144
10. Lincoln, 123

  • In the girls’ top 10, Addison and Grace replace Avery.
  • In the boys’ top 10, Benjamin and Lincoln replace Mason and Elijah.
  • In 2015, the top two names were Emma and Liam.

(The SSA rankings for Iowa are similar, but not exactly the same. One notable difference on is that the SSA ranks Grayson 10th on the boys list, and puts Lincoln down in 13th.)

And now for the rarities!

Iowa’s website offers interactive baby name usage graphs that include all names bestowed at least once from 2000 to 2016. Here’s a sampling:

Rare baby names in Iowa (2000-2016 total usage)
Girl Names Boy Names
Arabia (1)
Bishop (1)
Currency (1)
Dream (3)
Eros (1)
Fairy (1)
Gatsby (1)
Heritage (1)
Irish (5)
Jasper (1)
KeyEssence (1)
Lisbon (1)
Michigan (1)
Nirvana (3)
Orchid (1)
PairoDice (1)
Qy (1)
Reminisce (1)
Scully (1)
Tear (1)
Unity (4)
Veruca (1)
Windy (2)
Xanadu (1)
Yawh (1)
Zinnia (1) 		Arcade (1)
Banksy (1)
Cactus (1)
Denali (2)
Elvis (18)
Fonzy (1)
Galaxy (1)
Helium (1)
Indigo (2)
Jeep (3)
Kal-El (3)
Lightning (1)
Mowgli (1)
Notorious (1)
Opttimus (1)
Player (1)
Quest (3)
Racer (3)
Sanctify (1)
Tavern (1)
Universe (1)
Vegas (1)
Winner (4)
Xyn (1)
Young-Sky (1)
Zealand (1)

If you decide to dig through the data, leave a comment and let me know what you spot!

And if you’re friends with any expectant parents in Iowa, tell those lucky ducks that they have access to full sets of baby name rankings for their state. Either send them a link to this post or to one of the pages below…

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Department of Public Health, Baby Names Popularity Over Time – Iowa Department of Public Health

12 Rare Irish Boy Names

rare irish boy namesWe’re all familiar with Irish boy names like Aidan (Aodhán), Brendan (Breandán), and Kieran (Ciarán).

What if you like the sound of these names, but want something a little less common?

Here are a dozen legit Irish names that are barely being used right now — and all of them have that popular two-syllable, ends-with-N structure that American parents tend to like for boy names (think Mason, Ethan, Jackson, Logan, Owen, Jayden, Dylan, Justin…and countless others).

Which of these would you be most likely to use for your own baby boy?

Cammán
Historical example: Cammán mac Amlaíb, 10th-century viking.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Colmán
Historical example: Colmán mac Báetáin, 6th-century monarch.
Current usage: Colman is rare.

Crónán
Historical example: Crónán mac Bécáin, 7th-century saint.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Dallán
Historical example: Dallán Forgaill, 6th-century poet.
Current usage: Dallan is rare.

Donnán
Historical example: Donnán of Eigg, 7th-century priest.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Fintán
Historical example: Fintán of Taghmon, 7th-century saint.
Current usage: Fintan is rare.

Flannán
Historical example: Flannán mac Toirrdelbaig, 7th-century saint.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Garbán
Historical example: Garbán mac Éndai, 6th-century monarch.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Lommán
Historical example: Lommán mac Dalláin, 6th-century saint.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Lorcán
Historical example: Lorcán mac Cellaig, 9th-century monarch.
Current usage: Lorcan is rare.

Marcán
Historical example: Marcán mac Tommáin, 7th-century monarch.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Mongán
Historical example: Mongán mac Fiachnai, 7th-century prince.
Current usage: Has never been in the data.

Popular Baby Names in Ireland, 2017

Ireland’s rankings came out early this year! Typically we don’t see them until the start of June, but this year they were released at the end of February.

Anyway…according to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country in 2017 were Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Emily
2. Emma
3. Amelia
4. Grace
5. Sophie
6. Lucy
7. Hannah
8. Mia
9. Ava
10. Chloe

Boy Names
1. Jack
2. James
3. Daniel
4. Conor
5. Sean
6. Noah
7. Luke
8. Harry
9. Adam
10. Michael

In the girls’ top 10, Chloe replaces Lily.

In the boys’ top 10, Harry replaces Oisin.

Interesting factoid: “While there were 2,981 baby boys named John [the #1 boy name] 50 years ago, taken together the five most popular boys’ names in 2017 accounted for 2,765 baby boys.”

The names that saw the most growth in popularity — just within the top 100, I believe — were:

  • Girl names by…
    • Rank: Aoibhin (+81 spots), Nina (+41 spots), Hazel & Pippa (tie; +21 spots each)
    • Number of babies: Aoibhin (+57), Evie (+54), Sadie (+34)
  • Boy names by…
    • Rank: Theo (+33 spots), Jackson (+29 spots), Ruairi (+27 spots)
    • Number of babies: Luke (+45), Logan (+44), Harry (+36)

In 2016, the top two names were Emily and James.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names 2017, Babies’ Names 2017 Tables, Jack and Emily most popular baby names in 2017