We know what the top names in the country were last year, but what about the top names in each state? Here’s the list, released just yesterday by the SSA. I’ve also included each state’s most popular unique names (i.e., names that only appeared in the data for that particular state).
| State | Top Names (f & m) | Top Unique Names (f & m) |
| Alabama | Ava & William | Crimson & Kendarius, Walton (tie) |
| Alaska | Aurora & Oliver | (none) & Paxson |
| Arizona | Emma & Liam | Sedona & Yadier |
| Arkansas | Ava & Noah | (none) & Timber |
| California | Emma & Noah | Ani & Aram |
| Colorado | Olivia & Liam | Vail & Redding |
| Connecticut | Olivia & Noah | (none) & (none) |
| Delaware | Ava & Liam | (none) & (none) |
| D.C. | Ava & William | (none) & (none) |
| Florida | Isabella & Liam | Abigaelle & Miron |
| Georgia | Ava & William | Kaylei & Taylin |
| Hawaii | Emma & Liam | Mahina & Kaimana |
| Idaho | Olivia & Liam | Quincey & Roczen |
| Illinois | Olivia & Noah | Jamaya & Laron |
| Indiana | Emma & Oliver | Dawt, Elma (tie) & Jamin |
| Iowa | Harper & Oliver | Huxley & Kinnick |
| Kansas | Olivia & Liam | Macklyn & Creighton, Whit (tie) |
| Kentucky | Emma & William | Annlee, Terri (tie) & Jansen |
| Louisiana | Ava & Noah | Jaicee, Jersi (tie) & Colston |
| Maine | Oliver & Charlotte | (none) & (none) |
| Maryland | Ava & Liam | Anjolaoluwa & Adon, Murtaza (tie) |
| Massachusetts | Emma & Benjamin | Vittoria & Henrique |
| Michigan | Olivia & Noah | Layal & Eldon |
| Minnesota | Evelyn & Henry | Maida & Muhsin |
| Mississippi | Ava & John | Swayze & Jadarius |
| Missouri | Olivia & Liam | Charlea & Daxten, Zebulun (tie) |
| Montana | Harper & Liam | (none) & (none) |
| Nebraska | Olivia & Liam | (none) & (none) |
| Nevada | Emma & Liam | (none) & (none) |
| New Hampshire | Olivia & Oliver | (none) & (none) |
| New Jersey | Emma & Liam | Tzipora & Binyomin |
| New Mexico | Isabella & Noah | (none) & (none) |
| New York | Emma & Liam | Gitty & Mendel |
| North Carolina | Ava & Noah | Holden & Nahmir |
| North Dakota | Olivia & Oliver | (none) & (none) |
| Ohio | Ava & Liam | Wilma & Grayden |
| Oklahoma | Emma & Liam | Dim, Jadyn (tie) & Thang |
| Oregon | Emma & Oliver | Runa & (none) |
| Pennsylvania | Emma & Liam | Barbie, Surah (tie) & Joniel |
| Rhode Island | Amelia, Olivia (tie) & Liam | (none) & (none) |
| South Carolina | Ava & William | Emmagrace, Mills (tie) & Drayton, Mills (tie) |
| South Dakota | Harper & Grayson, Henry, Liam (3-way tie) | (none) & Ryken |
| Tennessee | Emma & William | Annaclaire, Caylen, Eulalia, Jakyra, Kamri, Parthenia, Tamari, Tylee (8-way tie) & Neyland |
| Texas | Emma & Liam | Jessi & Eliud |
| Utah | Olivia & Oliver | Mable & Ammon |
| Vermont | Harper & Oliver | (none) & (none) |
| Virginia | Ava & William | Tyasia & Alexi, Javonte, Mckinley (3-way tie) |
| Washington | Olivia & Liam | Callista & Ruvim |
| West Virginia | Emma & Mason | (none) & Bransen |
| Wisconsin | Evelyn & Oliver | (none) & Broxton, Kelby (tie) |
| Wyoming | Amelia, Emma (tie) & Oliver | (none) & (none) |
A few final thoughts…
- I love that Aurora is now #1 in Alaska. :)
- What’s up with Wilma in Ohio? Nine baby girls is nearly a quarter (23%) of the total national usage. Interesting.
- One of the other unique Utah boy names was Kaladin, which comes from a character in the Stormlight Archive book series by Utah-based fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson.
How about you — what are your thoughts/observations?
Source: Popular Names by State – SSA
Image (USATopographicalMap) by NOAA
I love that Liam is so popular. I know it is short for William, but I far and away prefer Liam.
I am curious though, have any boys ever been named Bambie? I mean it was originally a boy’s name. How did it evolve into a, um, female dancer’s name?
Plus the new variations on Jayden. Grayden, Jayton.
Not too surprised at Utah with Ammon, he was a very popular ancient prophet in teh Book of Mormon. But us Mormons go for more unusual names (probably because most have at least 6 kids LOL) Kim, and Lynn for men.
I don’t think I’ve ever come across a male Bambi, even though the name did evolve from “bambino,” which is the masculine form of the word.
Barbie is fairly popular among the Amish in Pennsylvania.
I can’t help but notice how Minnesota and South Dakota have such distinctly different top names from all of the other states.
@Chelsea – Your observation reminded me of a post (Curious Shift in U.S. Baby Naming Correlations) from a few years ago, which included this image:
According to that research, the northern-central U.S. states are kinda doing their own thing in terms of baby names.
I’m surprised Holden and Huxley only charted in one state – they get talked about so much in name lover circles, they probably feel more popular than they really are.
Holden and Huxley only charted as female names in one state. (I’m sorry the chart is confusing!)
Huxley showed up as a male name in 30 states, and Holden charted as a male name in 45 states.
I am looking at these for the years my children where born, and I wonder what process was used to determine these answers. I have a Quigley born in 2019, a Montella born in 2018. Both years say that there were no Unique names for my state for their genders, but we are pretty sure they are unique names from the reactions we get from anyone who hears their names.
Hi Melissa,
The U.S. puts out national baby name data and also state-by-state baby name data.
The unique names in this post are “unique” in the sense that, in 2018, they appeared in the data for a single state, but not for any of the other states.
All of them were common enough to appear in the national dataset, though.
Quigley or Montella are more rare than that. Quigley has only appeared in the national dataset a single time (in 2016), and Montella has never appeared in the national dataset (meaning that it has never been given to more than five U.S. babies in a single year).