The top baby names in Maryland in 2011?

7 thoughts on “The top baby names in Maryland in 2011?”

1. I’m sure you’re right that the state combined variant spellings and similar forms. I can only find the top 100 for Maryland in the SSA data, but just by combining the few variants there, Christopher/Christian has 465 and Aiden/Aidan/Ayden 455. It wouldn’t take many more spellings to bring them up to the numbers in the Maryland data. Same with McKenzie and Riley (Mackenzie, McKenzie, Makenzie and Riley, Ryleigh, Rylee are all in the top 100, and there are still more spellings of those names). In my opinion, combining them gives a much more accurate image of their popularity than you get from the SSA list, so if I were wondering what names are really the most used in Maryland, I’d tend to prefer the state’s list. I don’t necessarily agree with combining Christopher and Christian, or Isabel or Isabella, or Lily and Lillian, but if you think your daughter will stand out because she’s Isabel and not Isabella, you’re going to be disappointed.

2. DC area native here. It does look like Maryland combined variant names, but I suspect another part of the issue may be that the state lines here are pretty fluid and parents don’t think twice about giving birth in a different jurisdiction.

   I don’t know why parents from, e.g., Northern Virginia who go to Maryland hospitals would be disproportionately likely to name their daughters McKenzie, but that would explain why the raw numbers are so skewed — a lot of the “extra” babies in the Maryland data might show up as “missing” from the DC or Virginia data.

3. Another factor, although I don’t think it would create discrepancies that great, is that the MD data is based on actual birth registrations in the state while the SSA lists are composed from names of SSN applications. Considering that Maryland is right next to DC where there are a lot of foreigners living there temporarily due to government work from their home countries, a lot of those children may not get SSNs because they aren’t necessary under those circumstances (but their births are still registered locally).

4. @Diane: Thank you for doing some of the the math — I hadn’t checked that yet. Too lazy. :) I think most parents would agree with you that the “combined spellings” way of determining popularity is more helpful/realistic. I just wish MD had been more strict about their combinations (Caitlin and Kate?) and also disclosed more about their methodology, so we wouldn’t have to sit here and make guesses about what happened.

5. @Elisabeth – Very interesting! That was something I hadn’t even considered, but you’re right, people crossing state lines could be skewing things as well. I wish there were some easily accessibly data on this…I’m trying to find some now, but not having any luck. Though I did uncover this tantalizing little fact: Maryland is one of the least-expensive states in which to have a baby.

   (Also spotted a news story about Alabama mothers crossing state lines to have access to midwives.)

6. @Kelly – Another very good point, given the proximity to DC. Thanks!

7. Ah, so it looks like Maryland does count resident births only. Here’s a quote from the MD Vital Statistics Annual Report for 2014:

   Data contained in this report are presented on a county of residence basis, regardless of where the vital event occurred, unless specifically noted otherwise. Birth, death and fetal death data include information for all Maryland residents, regardless of whether the birth or death occurred in Maryland, the remainder of the United States, or certain foreign countries that report vital event data to Maryland. Information on marriages and divorces is limited to events occurring in Maryland.

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