How popular is the baby name Jose 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 Jose.

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Popularity of the baby name Jose


Posts that mention the name Jose

What gave the baby name Valencia a boost in 1927?

The character Valencia from the movie "Valencia" (1926)
Valencia from “Valencia

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Valencia saw a spike in usage in 1927:

  • 1929: 11 baby girls named Valencia
  • 1928: 22 baby girls named Valencia
  • 1927: 65 baby girls named Valencia [rank: 934th]
  • 1926: 18 baby girls named Valencia
  • 1925: 5 baby girls named Valencia

It reached the girls’ top 1,000 for the first time that year, in fact.

What gave it a boost?

Both a song and a film.

The song, “Valencia,” was originally composed by José Padilla for the 1924 Spanish operetta La bien amada.

A couple of years later, the song — with lyrics translated into English — was introduced to Americans in the musical The Great Temptations, which ran on Broadway from May to November, 1926.

Sheet music for the song "Valencia (A Song of Spain)" (1926)
“Valencia” sheet music

“Valencia” became very popular in the U.S. that year. Various orchestras made recordings of the song, but it was the version [vid] by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (featuring vocalist Franklyn Baur) that became the top single of 1926, reaching the #1 spot in early July and staying put for over 2 months.

In December of the same year, a silent film called Valencia was released. One reviewer, unimpressed, stated:

The popularity of the song seems to have been a sufficient excuse for M-G-M’s picture, which adopts the name but is not so fortunate in the story that purports to be “Valencia.”

The movie’s main character, Valencia (played by actress Mae Murray), was a Spanish dancer in love with a sailor named Felipe. But she was also being pursued by Don Fernando, the local governor, who threw Felipe in jail. Valencia made “the usual sacrifice to secure Felipe’s freedom.”

While the movie wasn’t a box office hit, it contributed to the trendiness of the baby name Valencia in 1927.

What are your thoughts on the name Valencia?

P.S. In 1950, the name — which was just starting to rise again, perhaps due to the baby boom — got another nudge from “Valencia,” sung this time by crooner Tony Martin. His rendition peaked at #18 on the charts that year.

Sources:

Top image: Film still of Valencia

Popular baby names in Puerto Rico, 2023

Flag of Puerto Rico
Flag of Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico welcomes roughly 19,000 babies per year.

Last year, the most popular baby names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Thiago.

Here are Puerto Rico’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Valentina, 177 baby girls
  2. Aurora, 113 (tie)
  3. Emma, 113 (tie)
  4. Victoria, 100
  5. Catalina, 94 (tie)
  6. Luna, 94 (tie)
  7. Amaia, 89 (tie)
  8. Gianna, 89 (tie)
  9. Isabella, 88
  10. Alaia, 82
  11. Mia, 80
  12. Mikaela, 78
  13. Ainara, 75 (tie)
  14. Amira, 75 (tie)
  15. Milena, 70
  16. Amalia, 68
  17. Amanda, 66
  18. Antonella, 65
  19. Camila, 62
  20. Amelia, 61
  21. Elena, 57 (tie)
  22. Leah, 57 (tie)
  23. Paula, 56
  24. Sofia, 54
  25. Kamila, 50
  26. Gia, 47
  27. Stella, 42
  28. Mila, 41
  29. Ainhoa, 40
  30. Sophia, 39
  31. Adara, 38
  32. Lia, 36
  33. Alana, 35
  34. Amirah, 32 (4-way tie)
  35. Nahia, 32 (4-way tie)
  36. Nahiara, 32 (4-way tie)
  37. Valeria, 32 (4-way tie)
  38. Andrea, 31
  39. Paulette, 30
  40. Alanna, 29 (tie)
  41. Brianna, 29 (tie)
  42. Adhara, 28 (4-way tie)
  43. Amahia, 28 (4-way tie)
  44. Ana, 28 (4-way tie)
  45. Gabriela, 28 (4-way tie)
  46. Paulina, 27
  47. Amaya, 25 (4-way tie)
  48. Arlet, 25 (4-way tie)
  49. Katalina, 25 (4-way tie)
  50. Mariana, 25 (4-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Thiago, 290 baby boys
  2. Liam, 264
  3. Noah, 201
  4. Mateo, 156
  5. Sebastian, 146
  6. Lucas, 140
  7. Dylan, 119
  8. Ian, 115
  9. Matias, 94
  10. Adrian, 89 (tie)
  11. Elian, 89 (tie)
  12. Jayden, 84
  13. Mauro, 79
  14. Angel, 77
  15. Milan, 76
  16. Ethan, 74
  17. Nicolas, 70
  18. Jacob, 67
  19. Fabian, 66
  20. Diego, 65
  21. Elias, 63
  22. Gael, 59
  23. Aaron, 56
  24. Isaac, 51
  25. Eithan, 50 (tie)
  26. Eliam, 50 (tie)
  27. Gian, 49
  28. Enzo, 48
  29. Evan, 45 (tie)
  30. Luis, 45 (tie)
  31. Isaias, 44 (tie)
  32. Matteo, 44 (tie)
  33. Daniel, 42
  34. Julian, 40
  35. Caleb, 37
  36. Eiden, 36 (3-way tie)
  37. Gabriel, 36 (3-way tie)
  38. Matthew, 36 (3-way tie)
  39. Carlos, 34 (tie)
  40. Santiago, 34 (tie)
  41. Aiden, 33 (3-way tie)
  42. Damian, 33 (3-way tie)
  43. Dario, 33 (3-way tie)
  44. Alejandro, 32 (tie)
  45. Amir, 32 (tie)
  46. Alan, 30
  47. Alvaro, 29 (3-way tie)
  48. Keyden, 29 (3-way tie)
  49. Ryan, 29 (3-way tie)
  50. Iker, 28 (3-way tie)
  51. Jose, 28 (3-way tie)
  52. Zaid, 28 (3-way tie)

Eiden on the boys’ list caught my attention, as Eiden was also mentioned in the SSA’s press release this year. It’s on the rise both in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico right now.

The person who wrote the press release theorized that the rise of Eiden was being fueled by Wisconsin-based influencer Wyatt Eiden. But the name’s increasing popularity in Puerto Rico — plus the fact that 40% of Eiden’s U.S. usage occurred in four states with large Spanish-speaking populations (TX, CA, NY, and FL) — makes me think the name is being used primarily among U.S.-based Latin Americans (who are probably not watching Wyatt Eiden’s English-language interview/trivia videos on TikTok).

(And now I’m thinking of a recent comment by alex, who noticed that “names that have seen some use in Caribbean Latin America for 20+ years” are starting to pop up in the U.S. data, and wondered if Venezuelan immigration might have something to do with it…)

In 2022, the top names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Liam.

Finally, what were the most popular baby names in all the other U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands) combined last year? Olivia and Elijah.

Sources: Popular Names by Territory – SSA, State and Territorial Data – National Center for Health Statistics – CDC

Image: Adapted from Flag of Puerto Rico (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Sonoma County (California), 2023

Flag of California
Flag of California

Sonoma County is the northernmost county in the San Francisco Bay Area region.

Last year, Sonoma welcomed 4,463 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Mateo.

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

Girl names

  1. Olivia, 20 baby girls
  2. Camila, 19 (tie)
  3. Mia, 19 (tie)
  4. Emily, 16 (3-way tie)
  5. Mila, 16 (3-way tie)
  6. Sophia, 16 (3-way tie)
  7. Aurora, 15 (4-way tie)
  8. Isabella, 15 (4-way tie)
  9. Sofia, 15 (4-way tie)
  10. Violet, 15 (4-way tie)
  11. Ava, 14 (3-way tie)
  12. Gianna, 14 (3-way tie)
  13. Isla, 14 (3-way tie)
  14. Charlotte, 13 (4-way tie)
  15. Emma, 13 (4-way tie)
  16. Lily, 13 (4-way tie)
  17. Luna, 13 (4-way tie)
  18. Avery, 12 (3-way tie)
  19. Harper, 12 (3-way tie)
  20. Maya, 12 (3-way tie)
  21. Leilani, 11 (tie)
  22. Scarlett, 11 (tie)
  23. Amelia, 10 (11-way tie)
  24. Daniela, 10 (11-way tie)
  25. Elena, 10 (11-way tie)
  26. Eliana, 10 (11-way tie)
  27. Josephine, 10 (11-way tie)
  28. Kennedy, 10 (11-way tie)
  29. Logan, 10 (11-way tie)
  30. Quinn, 10 (11-way tie)
  31. Ryan, 10 (11-way tie)
  32. Valentina, 10 (11-way tie)
  33. Victoria, 10 (11-way tie)
  34. Eleanor, 9 (6-way tie)
  35. Grace, 9 (6-way tie)
  36. Madison, 9 (6-way tie)
  37. Nora, 9 (6-way tie)
  38. Riley, 9 (6-way tie)
  39. Stella, 9 (6-way tie)
  40. Charlie, 8 (11-way tie)
  41. Emilia, 8 (11-way tie)
  42. Evelyn, 8 (11-way tie)
  43. Jade, 8 (11-way tie)
  44. Lainey, 8 (11-way tie)
  45. Natalie, 8 (11-way tie)
  46. Penelope, 8 (11-way tie)
  47. Poppy, 8 (11-way tie)
  48. Samantha, 8 (11-way tie)
  49. Sawyer, 8 (11-way tie)
  50. Valeria, 8 (11-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Mateo, 29 baby boys
  2. Noah, 27
  3. Liam, 22 (tie)
  4. Luca, 22 (tie)
  5. Oliver, 21 (tie)
  6. Sebastian, 21 (tie)
  7. Dylan, 20
  8. Leonardo, 19 (tie)
  9. Levi, 19 (tie)
  10. Anthony, 17 (3-way tie)
  11. Henry, 17 (3-way tie)
  12. Lucas, 17 (3-way tie)
  13. Benjamin, 16 (tie)
  14. Julian, 16 (tie)
  15. Emiliano, 15
  16. Ethan, 14
  17. Santiago, 13 (tie)
  18. Wyatt, 13 (tie)
  19. Angel, 12 (5-way tie)
  20. Cooper, 12 (5-way tie)
  21. Daniel, 12 (5-way tie)
  22. Matteo, 12 (5-way tie)
  23. Miles, 12 (5-way tie)
  24. Alexander, 11 (8-way tie)
  25. Christopher, 11 (8-way tie)
  26. Elias, 11 (8-way tie)
  27. Hudson, 11 (8-way tie)
  28. Jack, 11 (8-way tie)
  29. Leo, 11 (8-way tie)
  30. Matias, 11 (8-way tie)
  31. Thomas, 11 (8-way tie)
  32. Bennett, 10 (9-way tie)
  33. Damian, 10 (9-way tie)
  34. Elijah, 10 (9-way tie)
  35. Emilio, 10 (9-way tie)
  36. Ezra, 10 (9-way tie)
  37. Ian, 10 (9-way tie)
  38. Luka, 10 (9-way tie)
  39. Luke, 10 (9-way tie)
  40. William, 10 (9-way tie)
  41. Caleb, 9 (5-way tie)
  42. James, 9 (5-way tie)
  43. Jose, 9 (5-way tie)
  44. Luis, 9 (5-way tie)
  45. Parker, 9 (5-way tie)
  46. Adriel, 8 (16-way tie)
  47. Cameron, 8 (16-way tie)
  48. Colton, 8 (16-way tie)
  49. Connor, 8 (16-way tie)
  50. David, 8 (16-way tie)
  51. Dean, 8 (16-way tie)
  52. Diego, 8 (16-way tie)
  53. Gabriel, 8 (16-way tie)
  54. Isaac, 8 (16-way tie)
  55. Jesus, 8 (16-way tie)
  56. Lorenzo, 8 (16-way tie)
  57. Milo, 8 (16-way tie)
  58. River, 8 (16-way tie)
  59. Samuel, 8 (16-way tie)
  60. Theo, 8 (16-way tie)
  61. Thiago, 8 (16-way tie)

And here’s a sampling of the many names that were bestowed just once in Sonoma last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Ameyalli, Beliana, Colette, Delphie, Ellora, Fiadh, Gwendolyn, Honorae, Ilisapeci, Jessune, Khilana, Lucibell, Merari, Norma, Oriah, Pixel, Riyana, Soluna, Teteoinnan, Ume, Velexia, Wrenlee, Xochitl, Yetzi, ZantedechiaAriodante, Bruce, Canaan, Dovydas, Endrick, Favian, Gedaliah, Hewitt, Itztli, Jessiah, Kidder, Ledson, Miro, Nash, Orbelin, Paz, Rapha, Sigaserau, Tovius, Uniquo, Ventura, Wicahpi, Xolotl, Yoali, Zianni

Some possible explanations/influences for a few of the above:

  • Ameyalli means “spring, fountain” in Nahuatl.
  • Ariodante is the name of an opera (first performed in 1735) by George Frideric Handel.
  • Itztli refers to an “obsidian blade” in Nahuatl.
  • Teteoinnan is the name of a Nahua deity. (The name means “mother of the gods” in Nahuatl.)
  • Wicahpi means “star” in Lakota.
  • Xolotl refers to the “divine force of lightning and death” (among other things) in Nahuatl.
  • Zantedechia is one letter away from Zantedeschia, the name of a genus of flowering plants. (The calla lily is a member of this genus.) The genus was named after Italian physician/botanist Giovanni Zantedeschi (1773-1846).

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

Sources: Sonoma County Baby Names – Open Data, Sonoma County, Sonoma County Births by Year – Open Data, Sonoma County, Online Nahuatl Dictionary, Zantedeschia – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of California (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2022

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

The South American country of Uruguay doesn’t publish an annual list of top baby names per se, but Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC) does release a list of all the names used among people who obtained their Uruguayan identity card for the first time within a given year.

As we saw in 2021 and 2020, the DNIC rankings combine all names (male and female) together on a single list, but don’t combine different forms of the same name (e.g., Maria and María) into single entries on that list. Most notably, the rankings account for not just first-name usage, but also second-name usage (as Uruguayans are allowed to include a maximum of two given names on their identity cards).

So now that we have all that out of the way… the DNIC data reveals that the most-registered names in the country in 2022 were María and Juan.

Here are Uruguay’s top 100+ registered names of 2022:

  1. María, 1,170 babies
  2. Juan, 1,138
  3. Maria, 1,108
  4. Isabella, 885
  5. Benjamín, 780
  6. Emma, 766
  7. Mateo, 728
  8. Valentina, 660
  9. Catalina, 659
  10. Luis, 648
  11. Alejandro, 647
  12. Martina, 640
  13. Felipe, 637
  14. Carlos, 589
  15. Valentín, 568
  16. Ezequiel, 562
  17. Emilia, 559
  18. Manuel, 556
  19. Daniel, 555
  20. Lorenzo, 550
  21. Julieta, 546
  22. José, 535
  23. Gabriel, 518
  24. Jose, 517
  25. Nicolás, 491
  26. Sofía, 486
  27. Ignacio, 455
  28. Alberto, 452
  29. Santiago, 450
  30. Francisco, 442
  31. David, 438
  32. Agustín, 435
  33. Olivia, 429
  34. Josefina, 422
  35. Valentino, 416
  36. Antonio, 410 (tie)
  37. Lucas, 410 (tie)
  38. Bautista, 405
  39. Delfina, 396
  40. Lautaro, 389
  41. Benjamin, 384
  42. Eduardo, 383
  43. Belén, 378
  44. Thiago, 372
  45. Gael, 371
  46. Santino, 370
  47. Victoria, 367
  48. Javier, 365
  49. Agustina, 363
  50. Jorge, 362
  51. Emiliano, 358
  52. Dante, 357
  53. Alexander, 351
  54. Tomás, 342
  55. Paulina, 335
  56. Miguel, 334
  57. Rafael, 329
  58. Ana, 324
  59. Joaquín, 320
  60. Samuel, 315
  61. Pablo, 313
  62. Sofia, 309
  63. Pilar, 308
  64. Diego, 307
  65. Zoe, 306
  66. Alfonsina, 300
  67. Renata, 297
  68. Clara, 278 (3-way tie)
  69. Liam, 278 (3-way tie)
  70. Sebastián, 278 (3-way tie)
  71. Milagros, 276
  72. Francesca, 271
  73. Fernando, 268
  74. Emily, 265
  75. Enrique, 262
  76. Facundo, 261
  77. Federico, 260 (tie)
  78. Pedro, 260 (tie)
  79. Angel, 258
  80. Bastian, 253
  81. Bruno, 252 (tie)
  82. Martín, 252 (tie)
  83. Alejandra, 251
  84. Carolina, 249 (tie)
  85. Noah, 249 (tie)
  86. Guadalupe, 246
  87. Nicolas, 243
  88. Vicente, 240
  89. Enzo, 235
  90. Salvador, 228
  91. Sebastian, 227
  92. Juana, 225
  93. Valentin, 222
  94. Guillermo, 220
  95. Alma, 218 (tie)
  96. Emanuel, 218 (tie)
  97. Nahuel, 215
  98. Camila, 211 (tie)
  99. Elena, 211 (tie)
  100. Andres, 210
  101. Andrés, 209 (3-way tie)
  102. Benicio, 209 (3-way tie)
  103. Paz, 209 (3-way tie)
  104. Gabriela, 208
  105. Beatriz, 207
  106. Ciro, 206 (tie)
  107. Martin, 206 (tie)
  108. Maite, 203
  109. Andrea, 202
  110. Elizabeth, 200 (tie)
  111. Laura, 200 (tie)
  112. Isabel, 199 (tie)
  113. Mia, 199 (tie)
  114. Luciano, 198
  115. Ismael, 197
  116. Jazmín, 195
  117. Camilo, 194
  118. Marcelo, 192
  119. Franco, 190
  120. Agustin, 189
  121. Alfonso, 187
  122. Aitana, 186 (tie)
  123. Bianca, 186 (tie)
  124. Ramiro, 185
  125. Gustavo, 184
  126. Cataleya, 183
  127. Roberto, 178
  128. Ariel, 176
  129. Lucía, 174
  130. Micaela, 173 (tie)
  131. Ricardo, 173 (tie)

(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)

Here are a few names from lower down on the list:

  • 80 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
    • Only 35 babies were named Celeste in 2020.
  • 73 babies were named Aylen, and roughly two hundred more were given a different spelling of the name (e.g., Ayelen, Aylén, Ayelén, Aylín, Aylin). This is a Mapuche name with several possible meanings, including “ember” and “clear.”
  • 38 babies were named Coromoto, which comes from a Marian title.
  • 15 babies were named Inti, which is the Quechua word for “sun.”
  • 9 babies were named Amaru, which is the Quechua word for “snake.”
  • 8 babies were named Borja, which comes from the name of Spanish saint Francisco de Borja.
  • 7 babies were named Irupé, which is the Guaraní word for the large South American water-lily Victoria cruziana.
  • 5 babies were named Yamandú, which was the name of a historical Guarani chief.
  • 4 babies were named Chiquinquira, which comes from a Marian title.
    • Two others were named Aurora de la Chiquinquira and Leomarys de la Chiquinquira.
  • 4 babies were named Itanú, which is a Charrúa name said to mean “heartbeat of stone.”
  • 3 babies were named Guidaí, which is the Charrúa word for “moon.”
  • 3 babies were named Tacuabé, which was the name of a historical Charrúa man.
    • Following the Massacre of Salsipuedes in 1831, Tacuabé and several other Charrúa prisoners were taken to France to be put on exhibition.
  • 2 babies were named Amancay, which is a Quechua word that refers to a lily-like South American flower.
  • 2 babies were named Amapola, which means “poppy” in Spanish.
  • 2 babies were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
  • 2 babies were named Everton, which may refer to Everton F.C.
  • 2 babies were named Leunam, which is Manuel spelled backwards.
  • 2 babies were named Pérola, which means “pearl” in Portuguese.
  • 2 babies were named Uruguay.

And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the bottom of the list. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2022:

Aluminé, Balquidia, Cubillas, Danubio, Elquin, Francival, Gigiola, Haaland, Ivonilton, Juysver, Kaique, Liviesti, Magaiver, Namastée, Oscarina, Patria, Quetzal, Riccieri, Silvilex, Tarantino, Urania, Valuzia, Winifer, Xaviera, Yitnelly, Zapicán

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Aluminé – a town in Argentina
  • Cubillas – Peruvian soccer player Teófilo Cubillas
  • Dabubio – Uruguayan football club Danubio
  • Haaland – Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
    • This one debuted in the U.S. data in 2021.
  • Magaiver – TV character MacGyver
  • Riccieri – a denim brand based in Brazil
  • Tarantino – American film director Quentin Tarantino
  • Zapicán – a village in Uruguay

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)