MyNameStats.com has compiled the list of the top 20 most popular first names for each of the fifty states and one district. Click on the state on the interactive map below to see the Top 20 list for that state. The colors on the map show the most popular name in each state.
Most Popular Given Name by State
">Top 20 Last Names by State
The table above shows the top 20 most popular names for the state and the estimated number of people with that name in the state, click on the names to see the detailed statistics for that name.
How many first names appear on these lists?
Only sixty three names fill the 1020 possible slots, that is 20 spots for each of the fifty states and one district. The same names are popular in many states, five names appear on all 51 lists and only eleven names appear just once.
What first name is the most popular?
If you look at the Top 20 First Names nationally, John tops the list. At the state level, the name also appears consistently near or at the top of the lists. It is number 1 in fourteen states. Its lowest ranking, fourth, occurs only in two states Kentucky and Michigan.
But the name that ranks number one the most is James, it tops the list in seventeen states.
Another way to view this is to find the name that has the largest population of all the first names and of all the states. In this case the winner again is John, in California. There are more than half a million people that share the name John in that state. But this should come as no surprise, as California is largest state and John is the top name in that state.
Can we approach this differently, so as to avoid the population bias? Yes by finding the name that is most used within a state, that is, with the highest proportion per 100,000 residents (Prop/100k). By this method, the top honor goes to James in Kentucky, where there are 2,604 people named James for every 100,000 Kentuckians.
To put it in simple terms, if you lined up all the Californians named John next to all the Kentuckians named James, the John line would be nearly five times as long as the James line. Whereas, if you traveled to Kentucky you would be more than twice as likely to meet a person named James as you would be to meet a person named John in California.
Maria versus the Men
The top 20 lists are all topped by male names. There are no female names that appears on every single list. Mary almost does, it appears in 50 out of 51, Utah being the only state where it did not make the cut, it is ranked 21. Barbara is another commonly occurring female name, it appears on the top 20 list of 49 out 51 states. The real standout among female names is Maria. It is highest ranked female name in any state, taking third place in the two most populated states Texas and California. There are more than 800,000 people with this name in these two states alone. But surprisingly, it only appears on the lists of four other states, Arizona, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico and it only ranks at number 18 nationally.
There are many more interesting observations that can be drawn from these lists. We leave it up to you to discover them.