What is the most popular boys' name in each state?

In 2025, of each state's most popular boys' name, the one with the biggest share was Vermont: Oliver, given to 2.9% of the state's boys; the smallest was Tennessee: Noah, at 1.2%. Each bar is the top name's share of boys born in the state that year; it counts only names given to at least 5 boys in the state, because Social Security leaves out the rest, so it slightly overstates the true share.

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Bars are sorted from highest to lowest and start at zero; each one's value is at its end. On a phone it opens on the top and bottom 10; tap “Show all” for the rest.

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Key facts

Measure: Percent of the state's boys given the name. Written from the data below.

  • Vermont: Oliver has the highest figure, 2.9%, followed by Wyoming: Theodore (2.5%) and District of Columbia: Noah (2.3%).
  • Tennessee: Noah has the lowest figure, 1.2%, followed by Michigan: Theodore (1.2%) and Ohio: Oliver (1.2%).
  • The highest is 2.4 times the lowest.

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Source and date

Source
U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (state data)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “What is the most popular boys' name in each state?” Chart. Data: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (state data), https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/top-boys-name-by-state (accessed November 5, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

State and top name Percent of the state's boys given the name
Vermont: Oliver 2.89
Wyoming: Theodore 2.48
District of Columbia: Noah 2.3
New Hampshire: Theodore 2.24
Maine: Theodore 2.16
Delaware: Noah 2.14
Rhode Island: Noah 2.14
Connecticut: Noah 2.03
Alaska: Noah 2.02
Maryland: Liam 2.02
Florida: Liam 1.95
New Jersey: Liam 1.88
West Virginia: Waylon 1.87
Nevada: Liam 1.82
New Mexico: Noah 1.77
Massachusetts: Noah 1.73
South Dakota: Oliver 1.72
Nebraska: Liam 1.69
Hawaii: Elijah 1.68
North Dakota: Liam 1.67
Montana: Oliver 1.65
New York: Noah 1.64
Alabama: John 1.59
Virginia: Liam 1.58
Texas: Liam 1.54
California: Liam 1.5
Colorado: Liam 1.48
Idaho: Oliver 1.48
Mississippi: James 1.48
Missouri: Oliver 1.46
Iowa: Oliver 1.43
Wisconsin: Oliver 1.43
Pennsylvania: Noah 1.42
Illinois: Liam 1.39
Utah: Oliver 1.39
Minnesota: Theodore 1.38
Indiana: Oliver 1.35
Kentucky: Oliver 1.35
Arizona: Liam 1.34
Arkansas: Liam 1.33
North Carolina: Noah 1.33
Georgia: Liam 1.32
Oregon: Oliver 1.32
Oklahoma: Liam 1.31
Kansas: Theodore 1.3
South Carolina: Noah 1.3
Washington: Noah 1.3
Louisiana: Noah 1.24
Ohio: Oliver 1.24
Michigan: Theodore 1.22
Tennessee: Noah 1.21

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