According to the Oklahoma Department of Health, the most popular baby names in Oklahoma in 2011 were these:
| Boy Names | Girl Names | Unisex Names |
|---|---|---|
| 1. William 2. Mason 3. Jacob 4. Elijah 5. Noah 6. Ethan 7. Aiden 8. Michael 9. James 10. Wyatt 11. Gabriel 12. Jackson 13. Jayden 14. Alexander 15. Hunter 16. Landon 17. Bentley 18. David 19. Eli 20. Joshua | 1. Emma 2. Sophia 3. Isabella 4. Olivia 5. Addison 6. Ava 7. Emily 8. Abigail 9. Brooklyn 10. Madison 11. Chloe 12. Avery 13. Elizabeth 14. Lillian 15. Alexis 16. Lily 17. Zoey 18. Harper 19. Natalie 20. Ella | 1. Riley 2. Charlie 3. River 4. Landry 5. Reece 6. Elliot 7. Camdyn 8. Skylar 9. Emerson 10. Jessie 11. Briar 12. Justice 13. Harley 14. Rowan 15. Baylor 16. Casey 17. Chandler 18. Tegan 19. Kamdyn 20. Memphis |
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a U.S. state put out a list of top gender-neutral names before. Interesting. Wish I knew what guideline/formula they were using to classify certain names as gender-neutral instead of gendered, though.
I also think it’s interesting that Zoey made the top 20, but Zoe didn’t. (Unless “Zoey” is a typo in my source article.)
I posted about bizarre baby names in Oklahoma in early 2011 — remember 12-Gage? — but the state hasn’t put out one of their fascinating “Oklahoma Baby Names Books” for 2011 yet, so I can’t dig any deeper than this. All I know is that “Oklahoma children were bestowed with 7,517 unique girls’ names and 5,255 unique boys’ names in 2011.”
Source: Smith, Michael. “William, Emma top most-popular baby names.” Tulsa World 18 Mar. 2012.