Mathematically speaking, it’s possible to construct 676 pairs of letters from a 26-letter alphabet. In terms of baby names, though, only a portion of these pairs can realistically be used to start a baby name.
If you look at each of the 6,692 names that have ever ranked among the most popular U.S. (1880-2006), you’ll notice that only 233 two-letter combinations have ever been used at the beginning of the names (e.g., “Na-” for Nancy, or “Ev-” for Evan).
So…what’s the most common pair of starting letters?
Ma– is the clear winner. It starts nearly twice as many names as Ja-, the second most common starting letter-pair.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of all the two-letter combinations that have started at least 100 ranked baby names:
- 331 “Ma-” names (Mark, Mandy, Matthias, Marylouise)
- 177 “Ja-” names (Jane, Jacob, Jaleesa, Jamarion)
- 174 “Al-” names (Alf, Alice, Alphonso, Albertina)
- 167 “De-” names (Dean, Della, Devontae, Demetria)
- 157 “Ka-” names (Karl, Katie, Kameron, Katharina)
- 144 “Sh-” names (Shane, Sherman, Shanice, Sheridan)
- 143 “Ca-” names (Cash, Cadence, Carmella, Casimiro)
- 139 “Da-” names (Dave, Daisy, Damarcus, Dayanara)
- 125 “El-” names (Elmo, Elyse, Elijah, Eleanora)
- 121 “Ro-” names (Ross, Roxie, Roosevelt, Rosalinda)
- 118 “Br-” names (Bruce, Brenda, Bryson, Brittany)
- 118 “Ch-” names (Chad, Chantal, Christopher, Christiana)
- 117 “La-” names (Lane, Laura, Lafayette, Lakeshia)
- 113 “Le-” names (Les, Leah, Leandra, Leopoldo)
- 102 “Je-” names (Jeff, Jewel, Jennifer, Jeremiah)
- 101 “Jo-” names (John, Joanna, Joshua, Josefina)
- 100 “Ar-” names (Art, Arla, Armani, Araceli)
