August 12, 2024

U.S. State and City Name Popularity for Babies

Choosing a name for a new baby can be one of the most exciting parts of expecting a child. The names we select often reflect different aspects of our lives, from family traditions and personal interests, to the places we’ve lived, visited, or held dear to our hearts.

Perhaps that’s why people name their children after geographical areas like U.S. state and city names. At Beenverified, we conducted a study to analyze such baby names from the last 10 years to reveal how geographical names have influenced baby naming trends.

Key takeaways

Popularity of southern names: Both state and city names show a preference for Southern regions. Names like Charlotte, Dallas, Georgia, and Phoenix are popular, reflecting cultural significance and traditional appeal.
Gender preferences: For state names, there is a strong tendency towards female names like Georgia, Carolina, and Virginia. City names, on the other hand, show a significant number of male names, such as Austin and Antonio.
Top names have other influences: The top names in both the city and state datasets stray from the trend of their respective lists, suggesting something outside of geographic preferences could be influencing the most popular names.
Cultural influence: Hispanic-influenced names like Jose, Diego, and Antonio are prominent in the city names list.

Top 10 combined baby names from states

The most common state name, Dakota, was popular with both male and female babies over the last decade while the next three had no male presence at all. All of the top 10 state names were given to girls, while only seven were given to boys. Of these, six names were predominantly female, with at least 80% of the babies given the name being girls.

The name Arizona had a massive discrepancy with 97% of the babies given the name being girls. The least common state name, Tennessee, had a nearly equal male and female distribution.

Rank	Name	Total Count	Female Count	Male Count
1	Dakota	22,001	12,573	9,428
2	Georgia	15,673	15,673	-
3	Carolina	7,192	7,192	-
4	Virginia	5,670	5,670	-
5	Montana	2,260	1,361	899
6	Jersey	1,785	1,445	340
7	Indiana	1,686	952	734
8	Arizona	1,213	1,180	33
9	Alaska	757	749	8
10	Tennessee	490	277	213

Top 10 combined baby names from cities

In a trend opposite to that of state names, nine of the top 10 city names were more often given to males than females.

Just like with states, however, the number one spot was an anomaly with most of the babies with this name being females.

Rank	Name	Total Count	Female Count	Male Count	City
1	Charlotte	125,951	125,849	102	Charlotte, North Carolina
2	Austin	47,703	1,429	46,274	Austin, Texas
3	Jose	44,694	86	44,608	San Jose, California
4	Diego	30,147	44	30,103	San Diego, California
5	Antonio	23,819	10	23,809	San Antonio, Texas
6	Phoenix	21,968	8,883	13,085	Phoenix, Arizona
7	Dallas	18,066	4,920	13,146	Dallas, Texas
8	Francisco	13,037	-	13,037	San Francisco, California
9	Memphis	7,322	1,555	5,767	Memphis, Tennessee
10	Denver	6,725	2,612	4,113	Denver, Colorado

Francisco is the only name on this list that is not given to any female babies.

City names at numbers 3-5 have the biggest discrepancy with less than 1% of the names being given to females.

The least common city name, Denver, had the smallest discrepancy with around 60% of the names being given to males and 40% to females.

Top 10 female baby names from states

Rank	Name	Female Count
1	Georgia	15,673
2	Dakota	12,573
3	Carolina	7,192
4	Virginia	5,670
5	Jersey	1,445
6	Montana	1,361
7	Arizona	1,180
8	Indiana	952
9	Alaska	749
10	Tennessee	277

Top 10 female baby names from cities

When considering female names alone, both state and city lists show a strong preference for Southern-inspired names. For states, names like Georgia, Carolina, and Virginia are highly popular. For cities, names like Charlotte and Dallas stand out.

This could indicate that people tend to opt for names associated with historical roots and traditional values.

Rank	Name	Female Count	City
1	Charlotte	125,849	Charlotte, North Carolina
2	Phoenix	8,883	Phoenix, Arizona
3	Dallas	4,920	Dallas, Texas
4	Denver	2,612	Denver, Colorado
5	Memphis	1,555	Memphis, Tennessee
6	Austin	1,429	Austin, Texas
7	Boston	467	Boston, Massachusetts
8	Angeles	423	Los Angeles, California
9	Mesa	291	Mesa, Arizona
10	Kansas	237	Kansas City, Missouri

For female baby names based on cities, the jump from the number of baby girls named Charlotte to the number of baby girls named Phoenix is quite big with a 14X increase.

Top 10 male baby names from cities

When isolating the baby boy names, we see a large influence from the southwestern region of the United States, with names such as Austin, Dallas, and Phoenix being popular in the cities list.

Names like Jose, Diego, Antonio, and Francisco are prominent in the cities list, reflecting the strong cultural influence of Hispanic communities, particularly in states like California and Texas.

Rank	Name	Male Count	City
1	Jose	44,608	San Jose, California
2	Austin	46,274	Austin, Texas
3	Diego	30,103	San Diego, California
4	Antonio	23,809	San Antonio, Texas
5	Dallas	13,146	Dallas, Texas
6	Phoenix	13,085	Phoenix, Arizona
7	Francisco	13,037	San Francisco, California
8	Memphis	5,767	Memphis, Tennessee
9	Denver	4,113	Denver, Colorado
10	Houston	3,290	Houston, Texas

Top 10 male baby names from states

Besides Dakota, state-based names for boys are relatively uncommon.

Rank	Name	Male Count
1	Dakota	9,428
2	Montana	899
3	Indiana	734
4	Jersey	340
5	Tennessee	213
6	Texas	123
7	Washington	115
8	York	94
9	Nevada	64
10	Kansas	34

Overall findings

The use of U.S. state and city names as baby names showcases diverse preferences among parents. Southern names are especially popular, reflecting cultural significance and traditional appeal.
While state names lean more towards female usage, boys more often share names with major cities.

Overall, the study demonstrates how the names we choose for our children are deeply influenced by our personal experiences, cultural heritage, and connections to specific places.

Rank	Name	Female Count	Male Count	Total Count
1	Dakota	12,573	9,428	22,001
2	Georgia	15,673	-	15,673
3	Carolina	7,192	-	7,192
4	Virginia	5,670	-	5,670
5	Montana	1,361	899	2,260
6	Jersey	1,445	340	1,785
7	Indiana	952	734	1,686
8	Arizona	1,180	33	1,213
9	Alaska	749	8	757
10	Tennessee	277	213	490
11	Nevada	306	64	370
12	Kansas	237	34	271
13	Texas	17	123	140
14	Washington	-	115	115
15	Alabama	110	-	110
16	California	105	-	105
17	York	11	94	105
18	Missouri	44	-	44
19	Louisiana	38	-	38
20	Utah	-	33	33
21	Wyoming	12	-	12
22	Hawaii	11	-	11
23	Maryland	10	-	10
24	Nebraska	10	-	10
25	Rhode	-	6	6
26	Kentucky	-	5	5
27	Colorado	-	5	5

States not on the list did not have any babies given their names. Caveat is there may be some but if the name was given to less than 5 babies in the year it was excluded from the SSA report. So if 4 babies were named Mississippi in each of the 10 years (40 total babies) it would still appear as 0.

Top 10 Combined Baby Names

Rank	Name	Total Count	Female Count	Male Count	City	Population
1	Charlotte	125,951	125,849	102	Charlotte, North Carolina	875,045
2	Austin	47,703	1,429	46,274	Austin, Texas	958,202
3	Jose	44,694	86	44,608	San Jose, California	1,001,176
4	Diego	30,147	44	30,103	San Diego, California	1,383,987
5	Antonio	23,819	10	23,809	San Antonio, Texas	1,445,662
6	Phoenix	21,968	8,883	13,085	Phoenix, Arizona	1,609,456
7	Dallas	18,066	4,920	13,146	Dallas, Texas	1,300,642
8	Francisco	13,037	-	13,037	San Francisco, California	851,036
9	Memphis	7,322	1,555	5,767	Memphis, Tennessee	630,027
10	Denver	6,725	2,612	4,113	Denver, Colorado	710,800

Top 10 Female Baby Names

Rank	Name	Female Count	City	Population
1	Charlotte	125,849	Charlotte, North Carolina	875,045
2	Phoenix	8,883	Phoenix, Arizona	1,609,456
3	Dallas	4,920	Dallas, Texas	1,300,642
4	Denver	2,612	Denver, Colorado	710,800
5	Memphis	1,555	Memphis, Tennessee	630,027
6	Austin	1,429	Austin, Texas	958,202
7	Boston	467	Boston, Massachusetts	665,945
8	Angeles	423	Los Angeles, California	3,881,041
9	Mesa	291	Mesa, Arizona	503,390
10	Kansas	237	Kansas City, Missouri	505,958

Top 10 Male Baby Names

Rank	Name	Male Count	City	Population
1	Jose	44,608	San Jose, California	1,001,176
2	Austin	46,274	Austin, Texas	958,202
3	Diego	30,103	San Diego, California	1,383,987
4	Antonio	23,809	San Antonio, Texas	1,445,662
5	Phoenix	13,085	Phoenix, Arizona	1,609,456
6	Dallas	13,146	Dallas, Texas	1,300,642
7	Francisco	13,037	San Francisco, California	851,036
8	Memphis	5,767	Memphis, Tennessee	630,027
9	Denver	4,113	Denver, Colorado	710,800
10	Houston	3,290	Houston, Texas	2,296,253

Methodology:

To analyze baby naming trends based on U.S. state and city names, we utilized data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) spanning the last 10 years. The SSA provides comprehensive annual reports on the most popular baby names in the United States, serving as the primary data source for this study. The dataset included names given to both male and female babies, along with their occurrence counts for each year.

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Baby Name Trends: U.S. State and City Names