How popular is the baby name James 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 James.

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Popularity of the baby name James


Posts that mention the name James

Wisconsin family with 21 children

The Schoelzel family of Wisconsin (in 1949)
The Schoelzel family (in 1949)

During the second quarter of the 20th century, Rudolph August Schoelzel and Olivia Henrietta Schoelzel (née Gutenberger) of Colby, Wisconsin, welcomed 21 children — 10 girls and 11 boys.

Here are the names of all 21 siblings:

  1. Rudolph August, Jr. (born in 1925)
  2. DuWayne D. (b. 1926)
  3. Darlene D. (b. 1927)
  4. Doris Janet (b. 1928)
  5. Jerold Elroy (b. 1929)
  6. Lyle James (b. 1930)
  7. Beatrice Joyce (b. 1931)
  8. Darnell H. (b. 1932)
  9. Ione Mardell (b. 1933)
  10. Emerita Ella (b. 1934)
  11. Audris Ann (b. 1936)
  12. Ronald R. (b. 1937)
  13. Glen R. (b. 1938)
  14. James E. (b. 1939)
  15. Patricia Elayne (b. 1940)
  16. Arlyn August (b. 1941)
  17. Sandra, possibly Cassandra (b. circa 1942)
  18. Dennis Dale (b. 1945)
  19. Colleen Margarette Edna (b. 1946), nicknamed “Connie”
  20. Albert A. (b. 1947)
  21. Korliss Colette (b. 1948)

(The 21-child Schoelzel family was almost as big as the 22-child Schoville family, also of Wisconsin.)

More than half of the Schoelzel children are listed on the 1950 U.S. Census:

The Schoelzel family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Schoelzel family (1950 U.S. Census)

Which of the above names do you like most?

P.S. Thank you to Destiny for letting me know about the Schoelzel family! (Destiny also told me about both the Jones family and the Miller family.)

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Marshfield News-Herald (8 Nov. 1949)

North Carolina triplets with rhyming names: Dessie, Bessie, Essie

Triplets Dessie, Bessie and Essie Justice (plus a younger sibling)
Dessie, Bessie, and Essie Justice

During the early decades of the 20th century, Thomas Edward “Tommy” Justice and Laura Effie Justice (née Searcy) of Henderson County, North Carolina, welcomed 14 children — including a set of triplets.

Here are the names of all 14 siblings:

  1. Curtis Edward (born in 1900)
  2. Sidney Thomas (b. 1902)
  3. Dessie M. (b. 1904)
  4. Bessie Martha (b. 1904)
  5. Essie Margaret (b. 1904)
  6. Lula Belle (b. 1906)
  7. unnamed son (b. 1908)
  8. William Leonard (b. 1909)
  9. James Arthur (b. 1911)
  10. Anna May (b. 1914)
  11. Fred (b. 1917)
  12. Mary Sue (b. 1919)
  13. Laura Lee (b. 1921)
  14. George Washington (b. 1924)

Dessie, Bessie, and Essie were born in the family’s log cabin on March 16, 1904.

As children, Dessie and Bessie looked a lot alike, but Essie stood out because she “was the runt,” according to Dessie.

Dessie also noted that all three of them were “bashful” as youngsters:

We were entered in baby shows and attracted a lot of attention since we were triplets, but we didn’t like it. We would run and hide under the bed when people came to take our pictures. They would have to drag us to the shows and feed us ice cream behind the curtain to keep us at the show.

Speaking of Dessie…I wasn’t able to track down her middle name. What do you think Dessie’s middle initial, “M.,” might have stood for?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Spirit of Missions magazine (Sept. 1911)

Popular baby names in Canada, 2023

Flag of Canada
Flag of Canada

In June of 2023, the population of Canada finally reached 40 million.

Included in that count were roughly half of the 351,477* babies born in Canada last year.

And what were the most popular names among those newborns? Olivia and Noah, yet again.

Here are Canada’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 1,650 baby girls
  2. Emma, 1,416
  3. Charlotte, 1,412
  4. Amelia, 1,102
  5. Sophia, 1,051
  6. Mia, 924
  7. Chloe, 920
  8. Mila, 915
  9. Sofia, 887
  10. Alice, 793
  11. Ava, 772
  12. Lily, 766
  13. Isla, 759
  14. Ellie, 700
  15. Evelyn, 698
  16. Zoe, 697
  17. Nora, 681
  18. Sophie, 675
  19. Maya, 667
  20. Charlie, 647
  21. Violet, 626
  22. Aria, 613
  23. Florence, 611 (tie)
  24. Isabella, 611 (tie)
  25. Abigail, 608
  26. Ella, 599
  27. Emily, 588
  28. Hannah, 578 (tie)
  29. Hazel, 578 (tie)
  30. Elizabeth, 571
  31. Clara, 562
  32. Rose, 540
  33. Ivy, 533 (tie)
  34. Luna, 533 (tie)
  35. Eva, 527
  36. Eleanor, 503
  37. Harper, 487
  38. Aurora, 475
  39. Avery, 468
  40. Maeve, 462
  41. Victoria, 461
  42. Scarlett, 449
  43. Grace, 447
  44. Emilia, 440
  45. Layla, 432 (tie)
  46. Zoey, 432 (tie)
  47. Elena, 423
  48. Sarah, 419
  49. Livia, 416
  50. Julia, 415

Boy names

  1. Noah, 2,162 baby boys
  2. Liam, 1,813
  3. Theodore, 1,484
  4. Leo, 1,416
  5. William, 1,341
  6. Oliver, 1,245
  7. Lucas, 1,184
  8. Thomas, 1,154
  9. Benjamin, 1,134
  10. Jack, 1,132
  11. James, 1,122
  12. Jacob, 1,086
  13. Ethan, 1,012
  14. Nathan, 1,009
  15. Adam, 969
  16. Henry, 943
  17. Theo, 900
  18. Logan, 891
  19. Owen, 852
  20. Arthur, 818
  21. Levi, 816
  22. Jackson, 767
  23. Luca, 753
  24. Gabriel, 710
  25. Felix, 683
  26. Hudson 659
  27. Charles, 657
  28. Maverick, 649
  29. Daniel, 635
  30. Louis, 623
  31. Muhammad, 619
  32. Samuel, 614
  33. Elijah, 596
  34. Alexander, 588
  35. Caleb, 578
  36. Mason, 566
  37. Nolan, 552
  38. Isaac, 545
  39. Jayden, 531
  40. Aiden, 514
  41. Ryan, 512
  42. Edouard, 502
  43. Mateo, 496
  44. Miles, 490
  45. Michael, 485
  46. Luke, 481
  47. David, 477
  48. Matteo, 474
  49. Bennett, 469 (tie)
  50. Elliot, 469 (tie)

(The #1 names were the same in Alberta, but not in Quebec.)

Among Canada’s fastest-rising baby names were the girl names Sofia, Lainey, and Maeve and the boy names Zorawar, Myles, and Henry.

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a selection of the baby names that were given to just 5 babies each in Canada last year:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Audelie, Brie, Celestia, Dasha, Evaluna, Fawn, Gretchen, Harseerat, Icelynn, Jaylah, Kismet, Leony, Melona, Nimar, Ozalee, Philomene, Richelle, Scotia, Twila, Vedika, Walker, Yi, ZirwaAeson, Banner, Chesky, Deedar, Eloic, Fitzroy, Gohan, Huck, Ilay, Jibrael, Kebron, Lemmy, Masten, Noble, Omid, Poyraz, Rantegh, Scottie, Tao, Veeran, Willard, Yichen, Zuhair

Finally, here are Canada’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

*Total excludes babies born in Yukon.

Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators – Statistics Canada, Canada’s population reaches 40 million – Statistics Canada, The Daily – Births and stillbirths, 2023 – Statistics Canada

Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)

Popular baby names in Belgium, 2023

Flag of Belgium
Flag of Belgium

Last year, the European country of Belgium welcomed 110,400 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.

Here are Belgium’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 587 baby girls
  2. Emma, 429
  3. Louise, 365
  4. Lina, 362 (tie)
  5. Sofia, 362 (tie)
  6. Alice, 356
  7. Eva, 352
  8. Anna, 351
  9. Mila, 331
  10. Juliette, 325
  11. Nora, 293
  12. Lucie, 275
  13. Ella, 273
  14. Mia, 271
  15. Elena, 266
  16. Inaya, 263
  17. Camille, 261
  18. Luna, 246
  19. Victoria, 244
  20. Alba, 242
  21. Jade, 240
  22. Julia, 234
  23. Lou, 227
  24. Giulia, 223
  25. Léa, 222
  26. Nina, 214
  27. Marie, 213
  28. Liv, 212
  29. Lily, 206
  30. Mona, 204 (tie)
  31. Noor, 204 (tie)
  32. Renée, 203
  33. Lena, 198
  34. Ellie, 186
  35. Billie, 185 (tie)
  36. Chloé, 185 (tie)
  37. Elise, 178
  38. Zoé, 170
  39. Alix, 167
  40. Livia, 163
  41. Amélie, 162
  42. Nour, 157
  43. Aya, 156
  44. Sara, 150
  45. Amira, 149 (tie)
  46. Rose, 149 (tie)
  47. Ambre, 148
  48. Jeanne, 147
  49. Clara, 144
  50. Manon, 142

Boy names

  1. Noah, 589 baby boys
  2. Arthur, 577
  3. Liam, 498
  4. Adam, 472
  5. Louis, 463
  6. Jules, 456
  7. Lucas, 394
  8. Gabriel, 378
  9. Victor, 336
  10. Matteo, 297
  11. Oscar, 286
  12. Leon, 275 (tie)
  13. Mohamed, 275 (tie)
  14. Léon, 244
  15. Finn, 241
  16. Lewis, 238
  17. Mathis, 236
  18. Luca, 232
  19. Raphaël, 223
  20. Hugo, 221
  21. Elias, 215
  22. Théo, 210
  23. Amir, 209
  24. Achille, 207
  25. Nathan, 206
  26. Rayan, 203
  27. Otis, 187
  28. Eden, 185
  29. Milo, 183
  30. Marcel, 182
  31. Maurice, 181
  32. Léo, 180 (tie)
  33. Yanis, 180 (tie)
  34. Isaac, 179
  35. David, 172
  36. Gaston, 171
  37. Basile, 170
  38. Lou, 163
  39. Charles, 162 (tie)
  40. Noé, 162 (tie)
  41. Maël, 161
  42. Naël, 160
  43. Ibrahim, 159
  44. Georges, 157
  45. Ayden, 155 (tie)
  46. Henri, 155 (tie)
  47. Aaron, 153 (3-way tie)
  48. Sacha, 153 (3-way tie)
  49. Vic, 153 (3-way tie)
  50. Emiel, 150

The six girl names that entered the girls’ top 100 last year were Florence, Millie, Estelle, Ayla, Aria, and Fatima.

The nine boy names that entered the boy’s top 100 last year were Andrea, Daniel, Eliott, Haroun, James, Julien, Mil, Thomas, and Warre.

The fastest-rising girl names were Eva (+70 baby girls) and Lou (+63), while the fastest-rising boy names were Ayden (+42 baby boys) and Matteo (+35).

Map of the three regions of Belgium
Belgium’s three regions

The top baby names within each of Belgium’s three regions were…

Girl namesBoy names
Flanders (in the north)
57.6% of the population
Language: Dutch		1. Olivia, 346
2. Anna, 222
3. Mila, 219
4. Nora, 216
5. Ella, 207		1. Noah, 359
2. Arthur, 349
3. Liam, 282
4. Jules, 262
5. Leon, 257
Wallonia (in the south)
31.8% of pop.
Languages: French & German		1. Eva, 201
2. Olivia, 191
3. Emma, 171
4. Alba, 166
5. Alice, 165		1. Gabriel, 240
2. Arthur, 195
3. Louis, 184
4. Jules, 177
5. Noah, 175
Brussels (the capital region)
10.6% of pop.
Languages: Dutch & French		1. Sofia, 75
2. Nour, 60
3. Emma, 58
4. Olivia, 50
5. Lina, 49		1. Adam, 93
2. Mohamed, 87
3. Gabriel, 65
4. Yanis, 58
5. Noah, 55

And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — the names that were given to just 5 babies each in Belgium last year:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Asmae, Blanche, Carlota, Deborah, Elli, Frie, Gigi, Hilona, Isabeau, Jinan, Kimya, Lente, Marcelle, Nika, Ozanne, Puck, Renske, Sibylle, Trixie, Violet, Wissal, Yarah, ZélyaAdar, Brenn, Camiel, Dylano, Ézéchiel, Finley, Gerard, Haider, Illan, Jelle, Kas, Largo, Merijn, Naé, Ole, Pharell, Rakan, Soann, Tijn, Virgil, Wasim, Yvar, Zacharie

In Dutch, the word lente refers to the season of spring.

I didn’t post about Belgium’s top baby names of 2022, but here are Belgium’s 2021 rankings.

Sources: First names for boys and girls – STATBEL, 4.5% decrease in births in 2023 compared to the average for 2019-2022 – Statbel, Demographics of Belgium – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Belgium (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Regions of Belgium by Ssolbergj under CC BY 3.0.