Although we can gain a general understanding of American naming through the national data, it is true that naming differs between states and regions. In some cases, names are only commonly used in one particular area.
The following girls’ names each appear in the top 100 most popular names list for only one U.S. state or Washington, D.C. State popularity data, like the national data, can be found here, through the Social Security Administration. The boys’ names will follow in a later post.
Alaska: Dahlia, Denali, Felicity, Cheyenne, Lacey, McKinley
Arizona: Daisy
California: Giselle
Delaware: Ariella, Delaney
District of Columbia: Zuri, Zara, Madeleine, Jacqueline, Nina, Gabriela, Logan
Hawaii: Anela, Kiana, Emi, Kalea, Kailani, Leia, Kaia, Leila, Kalena, Mahina, Makena, Camryn, Rylie, Malia, Kaya
Idaho: Gemma, Lexi
Kentucky: Shelby
Louisiana: Jolie, Camille, Demi, Kali
Maine: Gwendolyn, Rowan, Evangeline
Massachusetts: Maeve, Catherine
Minnesota: Aisha, Greta, Elise
Mississippi: Kaitlyn, Kayleigh, Jaliyah, Kennedi, Malaysia, Jada
Montana: Remington, Hallie, Kimber
New Mexico: Amaya, Destiny
New York: Chaya
North Dakota: Edith, Nova, Arya, Josie, Mckenna
Rhode Island: Rosalie
South Dakota: Henley, Brinley
Texas: Daniela, Ana
Utah: Katelyn, Oaklee
Vermont: Wren, Jillian, Willa, Georgia, Mallory, Ayla
West Virginia: Madilyn, Braylee
Wyoming: Evelynn, Kassidy, Taya, Hadlee, Macie, Maddison, Myla, Marley, Kira, Katie
What are your thoughts?
The Well-Informed Namer 
That’s very interesting.
Have you ever read Freakonomics?
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No I have not!
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Would highly recommend. The whole first chapter is about naming conventions relating to economic status in the US.
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Nice set of names! The name Denali I think I saw it in a book called Minion by L.A. Banks. I’ve been crushing on that name off & on for a while.
In other news, since I like your blog so much I’ve nominated it for a Liebster Award. More information about that are in my last two blog posts. Congrats and keep up the excellence!!
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Wow, thanks so much for the nomination!
So, Denali is the indigenous and now official name of a famous mountain/volcano in Alaska…may even be the tallest on the North American continent, if I remember correctly. The other name for Denali, incidentally, is Mt. McKinley.
Amazingly, Denali isn’t even a top 1000 name nationally, yet it charts in Alaska!
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You’re so welcome! I’ve heard of Mt. McKinley which is another nice name. Wow! That is amazing, it’s not in the top 1000 but charted in Alaska! Odd how that happened.
If you’d like to participate in the Liebster Award there are questions you can answer in my most recent post
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Just met a baby girl named Remington yesterday, and it was the first time I’d heard the name (Perhaps because I don’t live in Montana.) She is called “Remmy.” I think it’s an absolutely lovely name, although, since she was dressed in blue and only a baby, when her mother introduced her as Remington, I assumed she was a boy. So I could see some confusion happening there. Anyway, love this post! Interesting that there are names that are only popular in one state.
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Remington does rank nationally for both boys and girls (#299 and #622, respectively). Montana has a comparatively low population, which means that even if the name is popular there the majority of female Remingtons are still coming from elsewhere, from states with larger populations and larger naming pools. But I agree, if I saw a Remington dressed in blue I’d think “boy.” Remmy is an adorable nickname, but Remy/Remi also a unisex name. There’s little way of telling.
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Oh, that makes sense! I used to go to school with a girl Remi, so I always think girl name when I hear it. Funny how your own associations can sway those unisex names one way or another.
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