How popular is the baby name Gabriel in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Gabriel.

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Popularity of the baby name Gabriel


Posts that mention the name Gabriel

Baby boy almost given 26 alphabetical names

In late 1886, a farmer from Buckingham named Jenkins tried to have his newborn son christened with 26 alphabetical given names:

Abel Benjamin Caleb Daniel Ezra Felix Gabriel Haggai Isaac Jacob Kish Levi Manoah Nehemiah Obadiah Peter Quartus Rechab Samuel Tobiah Uzziel Variah Word Xystus Yariah Zechariah

“[O]nly with the greatest difficulty could the clergyman dissuade the farmer from laying such an incubus upon it, and get him to content himself with the first and last of the names proposed.”

(The clergyman who baptized Ann Bertha Cecelia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez Jane Kate Louise Maud Nora Ophelia Quince Rebecca Starkey Tereza Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophon Yetty Zeus Pepper must not have minded as much.)

Of the 26 boy names proposed by farmer Jenkins, which do you like best?

Source: “River Reports.” The Anglers’ Journal 13 Nov. 1886.

Popular baby names in Prince Edward Island (Canada), 2013

Prince Edward Island’s top baby names of 2013 were announced recently.

According to provisional data from PEI’s vital statistics office, the most popular baby names in the province are Brooklyn and Liam.

Between January 1 and December 6, a total of 1,255 babies were born on the island and 746 different baby names were registered. Here are several hundred of those names, grouped by usage:

Girl names

  1. Brooklyn, 9 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 8
  3. Ellie and Madison, 7 each [tie]
  4. Claire, Ella, Emma, Lydia, and Sophia, 6 each [5-way tie]
  5. Alexis, Callie, Julia, Lauren, Mackenzie, and Sophie, 5 each [6-way tie]
  6. Abigail, Amelia, Ava, Charlotte, Layla, Lily, Sadie, Summer, and Victoria, 4 each [9-way tie]
  7. Alexa, Anna, Annie, Aria, Aubree, Danica, Elizabeth, Felicity, Grace, Hannah, Harper, Jessica, Jordyn, Keira, Kinsley, Lexi, Lucy, Madelyn, Molly, Mya, Paisley, Peyton, Piper, Quinn, Sarah, Scarlett, Stella, Tessa, and Violet, 3 each [29-way tie]
  8. Aaralyn, Adalyn, Aleah, Alice, Alyson, Amy, Anabelle, Averie, Avery, Ayla, Brooke, Brooklynn, Casey, Charlie, Elle, Elly, Emersyn, Evelyn, Fiona, Georgia, Gracie, Hailey, Isabella, Isla, Izabella, Jaelyn, Kate, Katherine, Kathryn, Kayla, Kyleigh, Leah, Lylah, Macie, Maggie, Marley, Mary, Meredith, Mila, Nevaeh, Paige, Rebekah, Ruby, Ryleigh, Samantha, Savannah, Selena, Serena, Serenity, Taylor, and Zoey, 2 each [51-way tie]
  9. Adalay, Aislinn, Arista, Avalon, Avurri, Bonnie, Brae-Lynn, Brantley, Breagh, Brenya, Carling, Daelynn, Dawsyn, Ellavine, Elliet, Ellowyn, Erda, Felix, Georgie, Iola, Iona, Ivy, Jayla, Jozee, Keiannah, Khloey, Lewyn, Maeryn, Mataya, Meah, Merleah, Misk, Myrissa, Nahala, Naiomee, Penny, Primrose, Reenie, Rilynn, Ronnie, Rora, Soraya, Theia, and Zadie, 1 each (a small selection)

Boy names

  1. Liam, 11 baby boys
  2. Hunter, 10
  3. Connor and Jack, 9 each [tie]
  4. Cohen, Jaxon, and John, 8 each [3-way tie]
  5. Landon, Owen, and William, 7 each [3-way tie]
  6. Benjamin, Caleb, Henry, Lucas, Mason, and Noah, 6 each [6-way tie]
  7. Alex, Alexander, Carter, Charlie, David, Jackson, James, Jase, Joseph, and Wyatt, 5 each [10-way tie]
  8. Austin, Camden, Cameron, Emmett, Griffin, Harrison, Hudson, Jace, Jonah, Kingston, Lincoln, Marcus, Nash, Nathan, Oliver, Parker, Ryan, Ryder, Seth, and Xavier, 4 each [20-way tie]
  9. Charles, Clark, Cooper, Daniel, Drake, Dylan, Edward, Eli, Elijah, Emerson, Evan, Felix, Gabriel, Gavin, Gus, Isaac, Isaiah, Jacob, Jax, Jonathan, Joshua, Kai, Kaiden, Malcolm, Michael, Nathaniel, Riley, Sawyer, Thomas, and Tristan, 3 each [30-way tie]
  10. Antonio, Beau, Beckett, Brayden, Caden, Casey, Cash, Clarke, Dawson, Declan, Dominic, Drew, Elliot, Elliott, Ethan, Ezra, Gage, Grayson, Hayden, Jaxson, Jayden, Kole, Levi, Logan, Luke, Matthew, Morgan, Nate, Nicholas, Nolan, Peter, Ryker, Rylan, Sebastian, Simon, Tanner, Taylor, Theo, Turner, Ty, and Tye, 2 each [41-way tie]
  11. Abel, Aeros, Attwood, Blaiz, Boe, Canaan, Clive, Davud, Draeson, Fynn, Hadwin, Haitao, Jaece, Jedrek, Kessel, Montgomery, Neeko, Odell, Reethym, Rigon, Sudta, Toffer, Tylan, Wesdon, and Zyler, 1 each (a small selection)

I’m not sure when the finalized version of PEI’s 2013 list will be released, but I’ll be on the lookout for it.

Update, Jan. 2015: The 2014 list for PEI just came out, and it included a link to the 2013 data…which is exactly the same as the above. So it looks like PEI doesn’t release finalized lists.

Sources:

Popular baby names in Arizona, 2013

Flag of Arizona
Flag of Arizona

Arizona’s top baby names of 2013 were announced recently.

According to provisional data from the Arizona Department of Health Services, the most popular baby names in the state are Sophia and Liam.

Here are Arizona’s projected top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2013:

Girl names

  1. Sophia
  2. Isabella
  3. Emma
  4. Mia
  5. Olivia
  6. Emily
  7. Abigail
  8. Ava
  9. Sofia
  10. Madison
  11. Elizabeth
  12. Camila
  13. Natalie
  14. Charlotte
  15. Avery
  16. Evelyn
  17. Layla
  18. Victoria
  19. Aria
  20. Samantha

Boy names

  1. Liam
  2. Jacob
  3. Noah
  4. Daniel
  5. Alexander
  6. Aiden
  7. Michael
  8. Mason
  9. Anthony
  10. Jayden
  11. Ethan
  12. Gabriel
  13. Joseph
  14. Benjamin
  15. Elijah
  16. Matthew
  17. David
  18. Isaac
  19. Sebastian
  20. Adrian

My source article called the rise of Liam in Arizona “relatively meteoric.”

Last year it placed fourth. The year before that it was 17th.

And the year before that? It did not even crack the Top 100.

Variant spellings I spotted in the top 100 include Sophia/Sofia, Mia/Mya or Maya/Mya (depends on how you pronounce “Mya”), Zoe/Zoey, Ariana/Arianna, Aiden/Ayden and Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson.

I also noticed Penelope at #42 on the girls’ list and Lincoln at #75 on the boys’ list.

I’m not sure when the finalized version of Arizona’s 2013 baby name rankings will be released, but I’ll be watching for it. In the meanwhile, here are the rankings from 2012.

Sources: Liam, Sophia most popular Arizona baby names, Top 100 Baby Names in Arizona in 2013 (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Arizona (public domain)

The “most regional” baby names in the U.S.

FlowingData recently used SSA data to determine the most regional baby names in the U.S. and create some very cool maps.

The analysis reveals the 10 “most regional” girl names and boy names for each decade-year since 1950, and also for 2012. Here are the lists for 2010 and 2012:

Girl Names, 2010Boy Names, 2010Girl Names, 2012Boy Names, 2012
1. Daisy
2. Alexandra
3. Annabelle
4. Julia
5. Presley
6. Paige
7. Mya
8. Cadence
9. Charlotte
10. Lexi		1. Santiago
2. Theodore
3. Josiah
4. Ryker
5. Connor
6. Colby
7. Justin
8. Ryan
9. Jaxon
10. Jake		1. Ayla
2. Delilah
3. Sydney
4. Aubree
5. Stephanie
6. Juliana
7. Aria
8. Tessa
9. Natalie
10. Abigail		1. Santiago (again)
2. Nicolas
3. Josiah (again)
4. Aidan
5. Lane
6. Elias
7. Braylon
8. Gabriel
9. Dalton
10. Jose

Ryker, 4th on the 2010 boys’ list, is one I’ve been wondering about ever since I noticed it was the 12th most popular boy name in Utah last year.

Baby name Ryker, regional popularity, 2010
© 2013 FlowingData

Here’s more detail on Ryker’s popularity in Utah:

  • 2012: 168 baby boys named Ryker in Utah (ranked 12th)
  • 2011: 154 baby boys named Ryker in Utah (ranked 19th)
  • 2010: 136 baby boys named Ryker in Utah (ranked 26th)
  • 2009: 151 baby boys named Ryker in Utah (ranked 24th)
  • 2008: 129 baby boys named Ryker in Utah (ranked 37th)

And here are the numbers for Idaho:

  • 2012: 51 baby boys named Ryker in Idaho (ranked 32nd)
  • 2011: 49 baby boys named Ryker in Idaho (ranked 41st)
  • 2010: 53 baby boys named Ryker in Idaho (ranked 33rd)
  • 2009: 53 baby boys named Ryker in Idaho (ranked 36th)
  • 2008: 34 baby boys named Ryker in Idaho (ranked 84th)

So far I don’t have a good theory about what made Ryker so popular in Utah/Idaho. Blogger Jessie Jensen tells me Ryker fits well with the region’s mix-n-match name trend, but I still wonder if some initiating event (sports? religion?) didn’t jump-start things for Ryker say in the 2003-2008 range. Anyone have a guess?

P.S. While we’re talking Utah mysteries, Claire is another name I’ve been wondering about. It ranked 10th there last year. (Also 12th in D.C. and 20th in MN.) Any ideas on Claire?