Most popular first letters for baby names, 2012

What are the most popular first letters for baby names right now?

In 2011, the answers were A, M and K for girls and J, A and C for boys.

And in 2012? Almost exactly the same! (Just swap out the K for an S.)

Below are the current first letter popularity graphs. As usual, I used Social Security Administration data to create these.

• The 10 most popular first letters for baby girl names were A, M, S, K, E, L, J, C, B and R.
• The 10 least popular first letters for girl names were T, V, Z, O, F, Y, W, Q, X and U. (Fewer than 800 baby girls got a U-name last year.)

• The 10 most popular first letters for baby boy names were J, A, C, M, D, B, L, E, K and R.
• The 10 least popular first letters for boy names were W, P, O, Z, F, V, X, Y, Q and U. (Just under 2,600 baby boys got a U-name last year.)

And now, both genders and all letters on the same chart:

• The 10 most popular first letters overall were A, J, M, C, E, L, K, S, B and D.
• The 10 most popular first letters overall were P, Z, F, O, W, V, Y, X, Q and U.

So if you know anyone who makes personalized baby stuff (clothing, jewelry, keepsakes, etc.) featuring the first letters of first names, forward this to them! It’ll help them figure out where to focus their efforts.

UPDATE: Here’s the list for 2013.