How popular is the baby name David 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 David.

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Popularity of the baby name David


Posts that mention the name David

What gave the baby name Davy a boost in 1967?

Davy Jones from the TV series "The Monkees" (1966-1968)
Davy Jones

The baby name Davy went into decline after reaching peak usage in 1955 (thanks to Davy Crockett).

During the second half the ’60s, though, the name did see a two-year uptick. It even re-entered the boys’ top 1,000 one last time.

  • 1969: 48 baby boys named Davy
  • 1968: 57 baby boys named Davy [rank: 974th]
  • 1967: 43 baby boys named Davy
  • 1966: 22 baby boys named Davy
  • 1965: 26 baby boys named Davy

What accounts for this brief rise?

British actor and singer Davy Jones.

Jones was one of the stars of the musical sitcom The Monkees, which aired on NBC for two seasons (from September of 1966 to March of 1968).

The series followed a struggling rock ‘n’ roll quartet called The Monkees (which was patterned after The Beatles). The four Monkees — Davy, Micky, Michael, and Peter — “romp[ed] through miscellaneous comic misadventures,” taking breaks to sing original songs penned by professional songwriters (including Carole King and Neil Diamond).

The Monkees was a hit — winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in mid-1967, and turning diminutive Davy Jones into a teen idol.

The show’s fictional rock band also achieved impressive real-life success. Six of the Monkees’ singles reached the top five on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Jones sang lead vocals on three of these singles:

  • “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” which peaked at #2 in April of 1967,
  • “Daydream Believer” [vid], the #1 song in the nation for four weeks straight in December of 1967, and
  • “Valleri,” which peaked at #3 in March of 1968.

David “Davy” Jones was born in Manchester in 1945. Prior to becoming a Monkee, he’d acted in West End and Broadway productions of Oliver! and released a solo single [vid]. He was well-known enough that another British David “Davy” Jones — an aspiring singer-songwriter — decided to differentiate himself by adopting the stage name David Bowie in early 1966.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of The Monkees

Popular baby names in New York City, 2024

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

Last year, New York City welcomed more than 100,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Noah, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Here are NYC’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Mia, 422 baby girls
  2. Emma
  3. Sophia
  4. Leah
  5. Isabella
  6. Zoe
  7. Olivia
  8. Chloe
  9. Sofia
  10. Esther

Boy names

  1. Noah, 722 baby boys
  2. Liam
  3. Ethan
  4. David
  5. Lucas
  6. Jacob
  7. Joseph
  8. Aiden
  9. Dylan (tie)
  10. Muhammad (tie)

One year earlier, in 2023, the top names in New York City were Emma and Liam.

Sources: Mia and Noah Top List of Most Popular Baby Names in New York City – NYC Health, Provisional Birth and Death Data – NYC Health

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

Popular and unique baby names in Alberta (Canada), 2024

Flag of Alberta
Flag of Alberta

Last year, the Canadian province of Alberta welcomed more than 50,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah, for the sixth year in a row.

Here are Alberta’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 184 baby girls
  2. Charlotte, 164
  3. Amelia, 150
  4. Sophia, 146
  5. Emma, 145
  6. Ava, 120
  7. Harper, 115 (tie)
  8. Isla, 115 (tie)
  9. Hazel, 104 (tie)
  10. Sophie, 104 (tie)
  11. Ellie, 102 (3-way tie)
  12. Evelyn, 102 (3-way tie)
  13. Lily, 102 (3-way tie)
  14. Abigail, 98 (tie)
  15. Aurora, 98 (tie)
  16. Nora, 96
  17. Mia, 95
  18. Isabella, 90
  19. Ella, 88 (tie)
  20. Violet, 88 (tie)
  21. Elizabeth, 86
  22. Sofia, 85
  23. Chloe, 83 (tie)
  24. Scarlett, 83 (tie)
  25. Aria, 80 (tie)
  26. Emily, 80 (tie)
  27. Eleanor, 79
  28. Hannah, 76
  29. Hailey, 75 (tie)
  30. Ivy, 75 (tie)
  31. Mila, 73
  32. Grace, 72
  33. Luna, 70
  34. Maya, 69
  35. Georgia, 68 (tie)
  36. Maeve, 68 (tie)
  37. Lainey, 67
  38. Anna, 66 (tie)
  39. Eliana, 66 (tie)
  40. Emilia, 65
  41. Lucy, 64
  42. Audrey, 61 (tie)
  43. Naomi, 61 (tie)
  44. Avery, 58
  45. Rehmat, 56 (tie)
  46. Willow, 56 (tie)
  47. Adeline, 55 (tie)
  48. Zoey, 55 (tie)
  49. Sadie, 54 (tie)
  50. Stella, 54 (tie)
  51. Ayla, 53 (tie)
  52. Claire, 53 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 248 baby boys
  2. Oliver, 203
  3. Liam, 196
  4. Theodore, 187
  5. Henry, 160
  6. William, 148
  7. Ethan, 141 (tie)
  8. Leo, 141 (tie)
  9. Jack, 140
  10. Lucas, 139
  11. Levi, 138
  12. Benjamin, 133 (tie)
  13. James, 133 (tie)
  14. Adam, 126
  15. Wyatt, 119
  16. Daniel, 117
  17. Luca, 111
  18. Nathan, 108
  19. Hudson, 107 (tie)
  20. Owen, 107 (tie)
  21. Bennett, 105
  22. Elijah, 104
  23. Thomas, 103
  24. Logan, 102 (tie)
  25. Muhammad, 102 (tie)
  26. Luke, 96
  27. Beau, 95
  28. Maverick, 94
  29. Samuel, 88
  30. Arthur, 84
  31. Jacob, 83
  32. Asher, 81
  33. Cooper, 80 (tie)
  34. Jackson, 80 (tie)
  35. Caleb, 79 (3-way tie)
  36. Elias, 79 (3-way tie)
  37. Ezra, 79 (3-way tie)
  38. Gabriel, 78
  39. Alexander, 77
  40. David, 76
  41. Lincoln, 75
  42. Aiden, 74 (tie)
  43. Wesley, 74 (tie)
  44. Zorawar, 73
  45. Isaac, 71 (tie)
  46. Miles, 71 (tie)
  47. Theo, 70
  48. Carter, 68
  49. Grayson, 65 (5-way tie)
  50. John, 65 (5-way tie)
  51. Mason, 65 (5-way tie)
  52. Matthew, 65 (5-way tie)
  53. Ryan, 65 (5-way tie)

Lainey (ranked 37th) was one of Canada’s fastest-rising girl names, and Zorawar (ranked 44th) was one of Canada’s fastest-rising boy names.

What about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a selection of the baby names that were bestowed just once in Alberta last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Aapistsisskitsi, Brevity, Cleofe, Datura, Edrielle, Frishta, Guidance, Hivirikee, Ilunga, Jinanshi, Katawasisin, Luladay, Milto, Nocturna, Olithea, Persimmyn, Quindy, Rhodalyn, Sora, Tezlie, Urenna, Viridis, Waseskwan, Xaeia, Yarrow, ZanessraAalto, Behxhet, Cedar-Sage, Delaneaux, Entz, Fomo, Gloriliel, Haoqi, Invictus, Joonharu, Kamharida, Luigi, Miekkonen, Nîmihitow, Okimâw, Piyêsiw, Qyler, Ryunosuke, Shinichi, Tobit, Urvil, Valo, Woodland, Xevreau, Yipei, Zildjian

Some explanations for a few of the above:

  • Aapistsisskitsi means “flower blossom” in Blackfoot.
  • Invictus means “unconquered” in Latin.
  • Katawasisin means “it is beautiful” in Cree.
  • Meikkonen means “little man” in Finnish. (The word mies means “man.”)
  • Nîmihitow means “he/she dances” in Cree.
  • Okimâw means “chief, leader” in Cree.
  • Piyêsiw means “thunderbird” in Cree.
  • Viridis means “green, youthful” in Latin.
  • Waseskwan means “the sky is clear” in Cree.
  • Zildjian is a musical instrument maker specializing in cymbals.
    • The company was founded in the 1620s by Avedis, an Armenian metalsmith based in Constantinople. In 1623, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa I, granted Avedis the family name Zildjian, meaning “son of [the] cymbal maker.”

Finally, here’s a link to Alberta’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Alberta (public domain)

Popular baby names in the Czech Republic, 2024

Flag of the Czech Republic
Flag of the Czech Republic

Last year, the central European country of the Czech Republic welcomed about 84,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Eliška (for the 13th year in a row) and Jakub (for the 14th year in a row).

Here are Czechia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Eliška
  2. Viktorie
  3. Sofie
  4. Anna
  5. Natálie
  6. Amálie
  7. Ema
  8. Tereza
  9. Laura
  10. Adéla
  11. Julie
  12. Rozálie
  13. Nela
  14. Mia
  15. Emma
  16. Karolína
  17. Barbora
  18. Sára
  19. Stella
  20. Anežka – the Czech form of Agnes.
  21. Veronika
  22. Marie
  23. Kristýna
  24. Meda
  25. Valerie
  26. Ella
  27. Klára
  28. Jasmína
  29. Štepánka
  30. Josefína
  31. Lucie
  32. Aneta
  33. Nina
  34. Magdaléna
  35. Zuzana (3-way tie)
  36. Ester (3-way tie)
  37. Beáta (3-way tie)
  38. Alžbeta (tie) – the Slovak form of Elizabeth.
  39. Elena (tie)
  40. Rozárie – the Czech form of Rosaria.
  41. Katerina
  42. Sofia
  43. Leontýna
  44. Liliana
  45. Gabriela
  46. Emily
  47. Amélie
  48. Adriana (3-way tie)
  49. Michaela (3-way tie)
  50. Stela (3-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Jakub
  2. Matyáš
  3. Jan
  4. Adam
  5. Matej
  6. David
  7. Vojtech
  8. Filip
  9. Dominik
  10. Tomáš
  11. Daniel
  12. Tobiáš
  13. Oliver
  14. Štepán
  15. Antonín
  16. Sebastian
  17. Lukáš
  18. Martin
  19. Ondrej
  20. Mikuláš
  21. Šimon (tie)
  22. Marek (tie)
  23. Samuel
  24. Jonáš
  25. Václav
  26. Petr (tie)
  27. Teodor (tie)
  28. Patrik
  29. Jirí – the Czech form of George.
  30. Tadeáš
  31. Kryštof
  32. Michal
  33. Viktor
  34. Vilém – the Czech form of William.
  35. Jáchym
  36. Eliáš
  37. Josef
  38. Richard
  39. Eduard
  40. František
  41. Albert
  42. Tobias
  43. Theodor
  44. Alex
  45. Pavel
  46. Kristián (tie)
  47. Damián (tie)
  48. Vincent
  49. Jindrich – the Czech form of Heinrich.
  50. Michael

The girls’ top 100 included Markéta (57th), Klaudie (68th), Nella (76th), and Bára (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Vít (55th), Robin (60th), Hynek (66th), and Kevin (81st).

Speaking of Kevin…Czech journalist Michal Kašpárek (who helped build an app based on Czechia’s baby name data) mentioned Kevin and several other non-Czech names during an interview with Radio Prague International last year. Some quotes:

  • Amélie: “Before the movie Amélie came out in 2001 about one girl a year in the Czech Republic was named Amélie. The year after there [were] 13, out of nowhere, and then the number doubled each year until reaching today’s 180 or so Amélies every year.”
  • Kevin: “Kevin became really popular after Home Alone came out, which was in the ’90s, when American names in general got more popular in the Czech Republic.”
  • Bob: “[O]ur data also shows that the first Bobs were showing up in the 1960s, possibly due to Bob Dylan.”
  • Amy: “There was also a big increase in the name Amy around that time that Amy Winehouse hit it big. That was a trend that didn’t stop after she passed away. Amy is still a really common name, and it hadn’t been before.”

I didn’t post about Czechia’s top baby names of 2023, but here are Czechia’s 2016 rankings.

P.S. Several Czech letters, such as R-with-caron and E-with-caron, don’t render properly on my site. So please imagine that they exist in several of the names above: the girl names Alžbeta, Katerina, and Štepánka, and the boy names Jindrich, Jirí, Matej, Ondrej, Štepán, and Vojtech.

Sources: Detským jménum loni opet kralovali Jakub a Eliška – Ceský statistický úrad, Eliška and Jakub remain most popular baby names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Jakub, Eliška… Kevin: App spotlights first names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Czech Republic (public domain)