When I went to school there was a preponderance of people named Michael, James, John, Robert, Debbie, Barbara and Susan. Later, we entered what I call the Justin, Josh, Christopher, Ashley, Jessica and Kimberly years.
The Social Security Administration has been tracking baby names since 1920. The names John, James and Robert were dominant for many years. For boys, though, the name Michael has definitely been the most popular in the past 40 years, being ranked number one for many of those years. For little girls the name Mary was clearly the winner for the past 100 years that records like this have been kept, but in the past 40 years or so there has been no clear favorite name for baby girls that has dominated over time.
In Arizona two new names for boys hit the top ten most popular for 2011: Mason and Noah. The other eight were in the top ten last year, although in a different order. The girls also had two different names in the top ten this year: Victoria and Chloe.
The latest available records about baby names comes from actuarial records. They are compiled by the Social Security Administration Office of the Chief Actuary. The records are obtained from Social Security Card applications. Keep in mind that the list does not account for variations of spellings. For instance, "Aidan" and "Aiden" are considered as two separate and distinct names and each has its own rank.
Here are the ten most popular baby names for both boys and girls born in Arizona in 2011.
Baby Names in Arizona
Top 10 Arizona Names for Arizona Boys
- Jacob
- Anthony
- Daniel
- Michael
- Ethan
- Angel
- Alexander
- Mason
- Noah
- Aiden
Top 10 Arizona Names for Arizona Girls
- Sophia
- Isabella
- Emma
- Emily
- Mia
- Olivia
- Ava
- Abigail
- Victoria
- Chloe
For girls, the names Isabella, Sophia, Mia, Emma, Olivia, Emily, Abigail, Ava and Chloe appear in the top 10 of the national list for 2011. Only Victoria was not on the National Top Ten List.
The official source for baby name data in the United States is the Social Security Administration.
