How popular is the baby name Joshua 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 Joshua.

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Popularity of the baby name Joshua


Posts that mention the name Joshua

Top baby names in Oklahoma, 2011

Flag of Oklahoma
Flag of Oklahoma

According to the Oklahoma Department of Health, the most popular baby names in Oklahoma in 2011 were these:

Girl names

  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

Boy 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

Unisex names

  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.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Oklahoma (public domain)

Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2008

Flag of Jamaica
Flag of Jamaica

According to the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) of Jamaica, these were the island’s most popular baby names in 2008:

Girl names

  1. Brihanna
  2. Rhianna
  3. Ashley
  4. Gabrielle
  5. Abigail

Boy names

  1. Daniel
  2. Joshua
  3. Jordan
  4. Ricardo
  5. Anthony

Why am I posting rankings from 2008? Well, this is the most recent set of rankings I could track down at the Jamaican Government’s website.

But the site does contain a few interesting facts. For instance, I didn’t know that adding “Ann” to girl names was once trendy in Jamaica:

In studying the naming patterns of Jamaicans, information from the RGD’s database reveal that more families between the period 1950’s to the mid 90’s gave their children traditional Anglo-Saxon names. It should be noted however that most of these female names included the name Ann.

For instance in the United States and the UK where Lisa, Nicole, Kimberly and Carrie are names which dominated the late 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, the Jamaican twist to these names are Nicole-Ann, Kerry Ann and Lisa Ann.

The site also mentions that…

  • At least 48 babies were named Charlie in the three months following Hurricane Charlie, which hit Jamaica in August of 1951.
  • 10 babies were named Gilbert in the nine months following Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Jamaica in September of 1988. (This includes two babies born on the day of the hurricane.)
  • At least 20 babies were named Usain following “the historic performance of Usain Bolt at the Olympics and the recently concluded World Games.”
  • Babies started being named Obama following “the historic election of the first African American President in the United States.”

Source: Naming Your Child the Jamaican Way – RGD – Government of Jamaica

Image: Adapted from Flag of Jamaica (public domain)

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2010

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Oliver and Olivia still reign supreme in England and Wales. Here are the most popular baby names of 2010:

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Oliver
2. Jack
3. Harry
4. Alfie
5. Charlie
6. Thomas
7. William
8. Joshua
9. George
10. James		1. Olivia
2. Sophie
3. Emily
4. Lily
5. Amelia
6. Jessica
7. Ruby
8. Chloe
9. Grace
10. Evie

George is new to the boys’ top 10. The drop-out was Daniel.

No newbies on the girls’ side.

Ollie, Bobby, Caleb, Jenson, Dexter and Kayden replaced Ellis, Joe, Christopher, Ewan, Morgan and Austin in the boys’ top 100.

Annabelle, Eliza, Laila, Aisha, Maryam and Maisy replaced Lydia, Eve, Alisha, Francesca, Sara and Mya in the girls’ top 100.

Source: Oliver and Olivia most popular baby names in 2010

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

Popular baby names in the United States, 2010

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

The most popular baby names in the U.S. in 2010, according to the SSA, were Isabella and Jacob.

Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names:

Girl names

  1. Isabella (same as in 2009)
  2. Sophia (up 2 spots)
  3. Emma (down 1 spot)
  4. Olivia (down 1 spot)
  5. Ava (same)
  6. Emily (same)
  7. Abigail (up 1 spot)
  8. Madison (down 1 spot)
  9. Chloe (same)
  10. Mia (same)

Boy names

  1. Jacob (same as in 2009)
  2. Ethan (same)
  3. Michael (same)
  4. Jayden (up 4 spots)
  5. William (same)
  6. Alexander (down 2 spots)
  7. Noah (up 2 spots)
  8. Daniel (down 1 spot)
  9. Aiden (up 3 spots)
  10. Anthony (up 1 spot)

Jayden won’t stop ’til it reaches the top, apparently!

The top ten girl names haven’t changed overall, while the top ten boy names now include Aiden and Anthony (as opposed to Joshua and Christopher).

More analysis to come. In the meanwhile, leave a comment with your thoughts/observations. See anything interesting on the new list?

Update: Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

This year’s winners for biggest jump in popularity in the Top 500 are related to each other. Maci and Bentley had the biggest jumps in popularity. Maci Bookout and her infant son, Bentley, were prominently featured on the show “Teen Mom” and its predecessor, “16 and Pregnant.”

If you remember last year’s baby name craze around the “Twilight” novels and movies, it should come as no surprise that “Twilight” scores again this year. The second fastest riser on the boys’ list is Kellan, the name of actor Kellan Lutz, best known for playing Emmett Cullen in the “Twilight” series. Coming in third is Knox, one of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s toddler twins.

On the girls’ side, Tiana, the name of the main character in the Disney movie, “The Princess and the Frog” and Disney’s first African-American princess, is one of the biggest chart hoppers.

Sources: SSA, Isabella and Jacob Again Reign Supreme on Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)