The Top Baby Names By State Show A Serious Lack Of Diversity For Little Girls

baby namesWho doesn’t love baby names? Monsters, that’s who. Only horrible, no good people are capable of passing over a story about baby names. Even if you aren’t pregnant, we all love the thought of naming adorable little ones. We love seeings what’s new, what’s popular, and where all the inspiration is coming from. So when I saw that the smart people at iVillage had broken down the top baby names by state, I was excited to get to see how different regions skewed towards certain names.

Here I was thinking that maybe historical context or ethnic diversity might influence the names in different areas. I thought maybe there would be ‘Midwest Names” to compete with “Deep South Names.” I figured that I would get to judge each state by their baby naming choices. Guys, I was really excited for this list!

Then you know what happened? I was completely disappointed. As I started scrolling through, my face just started to drop. Especially when it came to girls, there was just absolutely no diversity at all. I mean, zero! Every state had one of five names as their “Top Name.” That was it. No special local flair. Nothing to judge. For girls, states fell into one of five categories. Here’s the breakdown.

  • Ava: Louisiana
  • Emma: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Wyoming
  • Isabella: Florida, West Virgina
  • Olivia: Alaska, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah
  • Sophia: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington,

So your chances of having an Emma or a Sophia are pretty darn high! Those names are all over the place. Just a few states struck out and managed to crown a different winner. I have to say, it’s a little sad.

Boys at least managed to have a few more outliers. They weren’t completely dominated by just a few choices, though there were still a couple overwhelming favorites.

  • Alexander: Connecticut, Illinois
  • Anthony: Nevada
  • Carter: Iowa
  • Jacob: Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas
  • Jayden: Florida
  • Liam: Colorado, Vermont
  • Madison: West Virginia
  • Mason: Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
  • Michael: Delaware, New Jersey, New York
  • Noah: Hawaii
  • William: Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wyoming

Mason and William were obviously the strongest contenders, but we saw Michael make a streak in the Northeast and Jacob dominate in the Southwest. There was at least a little to see here.

One thing is for sure there, for all the yoonique baby names we’ve been hearing about, the dominate names sure aren’t that exciting. And for girls, things are exceedingly condense. I hope the next set of preggos shakes thing up a bit and gives me a more exciting list for next year. I’m counting on you ladies.

(Photo: Sebastian Wahsner/Shutterstock)

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