How popular is the baby name Kevin 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 Kevin.

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Popularity of the baby name Kevin


Posts that mention the name Kevin

Baby born during Hurricane Andrew, named Andrew

hurricane

Most of the hurricane-inspired baby names I know of (e.g. Alicia, Gloria, Hazel) were given to girls. So I had to end the series with a boy. :)

Hurricane Andrew hit Florida on August 24, 1992. It ended up demolishing Homestead Air Force Base.

Luckily, Kevin Hicks — who had been stationed at Homestead — was off the base by that point. Kevin, his pregnant wife Heidi, and their daughter Emily had driven 5 hours north to Leesburg to avoid the storm.

But on the day the hurricane hit Homestead, Heidi went into labor (4 days early). She gave birth to a baby boy at Leesburg Regional Medical Center that night.

The baby was named Jacob Andrew.

Source: Bond, Bill. “Hurricane Shoots Down Visiting Air Force Family.” Orlando Sentinel 27 Aug. 1992: 1.

Image: Adapted from Hurricane Elena by NASA (public domain)

Baby name story: Elora

Cliff at Elora Gorge
Cliff at Elora Gorge

While I was putting together yesterday’s list of girl names outside the top 1,000, I spotted the name Elora, and I was reminded of this story.

Several years ago, Toronto couple Elaine Yuen and Kevin Shimmin welcomed a baby girl. They named the baby Elora after the Elora Gorge in Ontario, Canada.

The name paid tribute to Elaine’s “fond memories of hiking at the gorge.” She also liked that Elora began with El- (like her own name), and that it was “a short form of Elnora, derived from Eleanor, which means light.”

(Actually, the name of gorge comes from the name of a town, which comes from the name of a ship, which comes from the name of the Ellora Caves in India. Also, incidentally, Eleanor is more likely to derive from the name Alienor, meaning “the other Aenor,” than the name Helen, meaning “torch.”)

In any case…Elora Gorge Conservation Area superintendent Dan Morden said that, as far as he knew, Elaine’s Elora was the first baby to be named after the gorge.

Sources:

  • Rushowy, Kristin. “Beautiful place, beautiful baby.” Toronto Star 26 Jul. 2008.
  • Connon, John. The Early History of Elora, Ontario and Vicinity. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1974.

Image: Adapted from Elora Gorge Cliff Face by Kalejade under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popular baby names in New York City, 2007

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

According to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the most popular baby names in the city last year were Isabella/Sophia (tied) and Daniel.

Here are New York City’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2007:

Girl names

  1. Isabella, 539 baby girls (tie)
  2. Sophia, 539 (tie)
  3. Emily, 525
  4. Ashley, 480
  5. Sarah, 425
  6. Kayla, 414
  7. Mia, 381
  8. Olivia, 375
  9. Samantha, 368
  10. Rachel, 359
  11. Madison, 345
  12. Ava, 330
  13. Brianna, 316
  14. Emma, 286
  15. Sofia, 276
  16. Abigail, 272 (tie)
  17. Chloe, 272 (tie)
  18. Angelina, 265 (tie)
  19. Victoria, 265 (tie)
  20. Elizabeth, 261 (tie)
  21. Leah, 261 (tie)
  22. Nicole, 250
  23. Julia, 249
  24. Alexandra, 247
  25. Esther, 244
  26. Michelle, 234 (tie)
  27. Sara, 234 (tie)
  28. Alyssa, 231
  29. Maya, 227
  30. Gabriella, 223
  31. Jessica, 216
  32. Hannah, 202
  33. Arianna, 186
  34. Chaya, 184
  35. Ella, 182
  36. Anna, 179
  37. Katherine, 177
  38. Melanie, 176
  39. Natalie, 175
  40. Jada, 174
  41. Jasmine, 169 (tie)
  42. Sophie, 169 (tie)
  43. Miriam, 168
  44. Jennifer, 167
  45. Amanda, 164
  46. Grace, 160
  47. Zoe, 158
  48. Alexa, 156 (tie)
  49. Hailey, 156 (tie)
  50. Ariana, 154 (tie)
  51. Maria, 154 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Daniel, 865 baby boys
  2. Jayden, 846
  3. Michael, 801
  4. Matthew, 778
  5. Justin, 738
  6. Joshua, 719
  7. David, 705
  8. Anthony, 664
  9. Christopher, 652
  10. Joseph, 617
  11. Ryan, 576
  12. Ethan, 524
  13. Alexander, 503
  14. Kevin, 496
  15. Jacob, 474
  16. Brandon, 463
  17. Nicholas, 458
  18. Jonathan, 452
  19. John, 448
  20. Christian, 445
  21. William, 435
  22. Andrew, 424
  23. Jason, 414
  24. James, 377
  25. Elijah, 359
  26. Angel, 357
  27. Benjamin, 350
  28. Dylan, 347
  29. Samuel, 343
  30. Aaron, 334
  31. Gabriel, 327
  32. Eric, 301 (tie)
  33. Jaden, 301 (tie)
  34. Brian, 283
  35. Jack, 282
  36. Tyler, 276
  37. Noah, 269
  38. Jordan, 265
  39. Luis, 264
  40. Sebastian, 260
  41. Jose, 249
  42. Sean, 247
  43. Adam, 243
  44. Jeremiah, 242
  45. Henry, 239
  46. Isaiah, 238
  47. Thomas, 234
  48. Xavier, 232
  49. Bryan, 230
  50. Aidan, 228 (tie)
  51. Aiden, 228 (tie)

Jayden jumped from 10th place in 2006 to 2nd place in 2007, impressively.

If all the different spellings of Jayden (e.g., Jaden, Jaiden, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaydon, Jaidyn, Jaydan, Jaydin) had been counted together, in fact, the entire name-group would have easily overtaken Daniel with a grand total of more than 1,340 baby boys.

The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
HispanicAshleyJayden
AsianSophiaRyan
Non-Hispanic WhiteSarahMichael
Non-Hispanic BlackMadisonJayden

Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Binta, Djeneba, Fraida, Rowan, and Suki, and the boy names Aditya, Karim, Milton, Shimshon, and Wolf.

One year earlier, NYC’s top names (overall) were Ashley and Michael.

Source: Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov (pdf)

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

[Latest update: Nov. 2025]

Top baby names in Massachusetts, 2007

Flag of Massachusetts
Flag of Massachusetts

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (via Boston Magazine), the most popular baby names in the state in 2007 were Ava and Ryan.

Here are Massachusetts’ top five girl names and top five boy names of 2007:

Girl names

  1. Ava
  2. Isabella
  3. Sophia
  4. Olivia
  5. Emma

Boy names

  1. Ryan
  2. Matthew
  3. Michael
  4. William
  5. Jacob

Writer Amy Derjue found these results “pretty disappointing” — not a Brady, Randy, Kevin, Beckett, or Jacoby to be found among the top 5 boy names, despite the fact that 2007 was “such a banner year in sports.”

I can’t say I share her sense of disappointment, but I do think that, given Tom Brady’s popularity, Brady might have a shot at cracking the state-wide top 5 one day. Here’s how the name has fared in recent years, according to Social Security Administration data:

YearBrady’s rank in Mass.Brady’s rank in U.S.
200654th105th
200548th110th
200453rd122nd
200385th141st
200293rd147th

Source: Derjue, Amy. “A Baby by Any Other Name.” Boston Magazine 2 Jan. 2008.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Massachusetts (public domain)