How popular is the baby name Ryan 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 Ryan.

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Popularity of the baby name Ryan


Posts that mention the name Ryan

Popular baby names in New Zealand, 2013

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

New Zealand’s top baby names of 2013 were announced last week.

According to NZ’s Department of Internal Affairs, the country’s most popular names of 2013 were Charlotte and Oliver.

Here are the top 25 girl names and top 25 boy names of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Charlotte
  2. Emily
  3. Ruby
  4. Sophie
  5. Olivia
  6. Isla
  7. Amelia
  8. Ava
  9. Isabella
  10. Ella
  11. Chloe
  12. Grace
  13. Mia
  14. Lily
  15. Emma
  16. Sophia
  17. Lucy
  18. Mila
  19. Harper
  20. Zoe
  21. Georgia
  22. Paige
  23. Hannah
  24. Aria
  25. Jessica

Boy Names

  1. Oliver
  2. Jack
  3. James
  4. William
  5. Mason
  6. Liam
  7. Samuel
  8. Lucas
  9. Noah
  10. Thomas
  11. Hunter
  12. Ethan
  13. Jacob
  14. Benjamin
  15. Daniel
  16. Max
  17. Joshua
  18. Ryan
  19. Cooper
  20. Blake
  21. Lachlan
  22. Charlie
  23. Levi
  24. Leo
  25. Elijah

Girl names on the rise include Isla, Mila, Aria, Eden (30th), Willow (33rd) and Pippa (44th).

Boy names on the rise include Hunter and Elijah.

Another boy name — Braxton — debuted at #28 on the NZ top 100 in 2012 and was still going strong in 2013 at 29th. The explanation for Braxton’s sudden popularity could be the Australian soap opera Home and Away, which is popular in NZ. In 2011, the show introduced a trio of brothers named Darryl “Brax” Braxton, Heath Braxton and Casey Braxton. The eldest, Brax, seems to have emerged as the favorite Braxton brother.

Sources: The baby names NZ loves, Most Popular Male and Female First Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Popular baby names in British Columbia (Canada), 2012

British Columbia published its most recent list of popular baby names several days ago.

According to the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency, the province’s top names of 2012 were Ethan for boys and Olivia for girls.

Here are the top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:

Baby Girl NamesBaby Boy Names
1. Olivia, 274 baby girls
2. Emma, 265
3. Sophia, 232
4. Emily, 195
5. Ava, 187
6. Ella, 175
7. Chloe, 143
8. Isabella, 142
9. Avery, 138
10. Hannah, 130
11. Sophie, 127
12. Abigail, 126
13. Charlotte, 122
14. Lily, 121
15. Brooklyn, 113
16. Madison, 112
17. Isla, 111
18. Grace, 101
19. Maya, 99
20. Amelia, 96		1. Ethan, 297 baby boys
2. Liam, 264
3. Lucas, 231
4. Mason, 207
5. Logan, 203
6. Noah, 193
7. Alexander, 190
8. Benjamin, 176
9. Jacob, 168
10. Jack, 163
11. Owen, 157
12. Ryan, 152
13. Daniel, 150
14. Oliver, 150
15. James, 147
16. Nathan, 147
17. Jayden, 146
18. Samuel, 140
19. Matthew, 139
20. William, 133

Here are more of B.C.’s popular baby names of 2012, and here’s an interactive graph showing how various baby names have fared over time in B.C.

Source: What were the top baby names for 2012?

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:

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?