Name Frequency of U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents

If you live in the U.S., the third Monday of each February is known as Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday coinciding with the February 22nd birthday of America’s first president, George Washington. Most people probably don’t pay the day too much mind unless they work for the Government or teach, but those of us with baby naming hobbies treat any occasion as reason to think about related names. So, I’m wondering: what’s the breakdown of presidential first names? With kings and queens, you typically know how many rulers of that country have borne a certain name (for example, Great Britain’s current ruler is King Charles III, clarifying that the country had two prior kings named Charles). With Presidents, you don’t know how many Johns there have been (for example) unless you sit down to count and sift through all 46 Commanders-in-Chief. That’s before you even consider the Vice-Presidents, whom history occasionally forgets (more or less).

Here is a list of U.S. presidents’ and vice presidents’ first names by frequency! I’ve organized them into two categories: official names and birth names. The ‘official’ list tallies the names we know them by; for example, Bill Clinton is officially counted as Bill. On the other hand, Clinton is tallied as William under the list of birth names.

Official names:

• James (x5)
• John (x4)
• George (x3)
• William (x3)
• Andrew (x2)
• Franklin (x2)
• Abraham
• Barack
• Benjamin
• Bill
• Calvin
• Chester
• Donald
• Dwight
• Gerald
• Grover
• Harry
• Herbert
• Jimmy
• Joe
• Lyndon
• Martin
• Millard
• Richard
• Ronald
• Rutherford
• Theodore
• Thomas
• Ulysses
• Warren
• Woodrow
• Zachary

If we switch to birth names, the presidential list looks like:

• James (x6) – including Jimmy Carter
  
• John (x5) – including John Calvin Coolidge
• William (x4) –  including Bill Clinton
  
• George (x3)
• Andrew (x2)
• Franklin (x2)
• Thomas (x2) – including Thomas Woodrow Wilson
• Abraham
• Barack
• Benjamin
• Chester
• David – Dwight David Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower.
• Donald
• Harry
• Herbert
• Hiram – Hiram Ulysses Grant
• Joseph – President Biden boasts a most intriguing middle name: Robinette!
• Leslie – birth name of Gerald Ford, who was originally named after his biological father. Gerald Ford was his stepfather’s name.
  
• Lyndon
• Maarten – Martin Van Buren’s first language was Dutch.
  
• Millard
• Richard
• Ronald
• Rutherford
• Stephen – Stephen Grover Cleveland
• Theodore
• Warren
• Zachary

Now here are the Vice-Presidents’ official names:

• John (x5)
• Charles (x3)
• George (x3)
• Thomas (x3)
• Henry (x2)
• Richard (x2)
• William (x2)
• Aaron
• Adlai
• Al
• Alben
• Andrew
• Calvin
• Chester
• Dan
• Daniel
• Dick
• Elbridge
• Garret
• Gerald
• Hannibal
• Harry
• Hubert
• James
• Joe
• Kamala
• Levi
• Lyndon
• Martin
• Mike
• Millard
• Nelson
• Schuyler
• Spiro
• Theodore
• Walter

And their birth names:

• John (x6) – including Calvin Coolidge
• Charles (x3)
• George (x3)
• Richard (x3) – including Dick Cheney
• Thomas (x3)
• James (x2) – including James Danforth “Dan” Quayle
• William (x2)
• Aaron
• Adlai
• Alben
• Albert – Al Gore
• Andrew
• Chester
• Daniel
• Elbridge
  
• Garret
• Hannibal
• Harry
• Henry
• Hubert
• Jeremiah – Jeremiah Jones Colbath changed his name to Henry Wilson.
  
• Joseph – Joe Biden
• Kamala
• Leslie
• Levi
• Lyndon
• Maarten
• Michael – Mike Pence
• Millard
• Nelson
• Schuyler
• Spiro
• Theodore
• Walter

Thoughts? I’m honestly a little surprised that there’s been more than one president named Franklin. That, and I think Hannibal Hamlin wins “coolest name.”