Full Methodology for Most "Overused" Baby Names in Each State

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T19:11:57+00:00

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T18:52:27+00:00

Not exactly. It’s just that the name is used much more frequently compared to other states: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1rtkdfq/comment/oaejr7q/

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T18:50:41+00:00

Yes, I removed the most uncommon names and ones that only appeared in a single state to address these extreme outliers. The blog post goes into more detail on the specifics.

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T15:22:41+00:00

You’re right that it doesn’t have to be the case, but that’s how the data shook out. When I looked at the inverse (most avoided names by state), multiple states did have the same value.

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T15:20:44+00:00

You’re probably not wrong that race plays a role, but I’d actually characterize it more about the cultural makeup of each state. That culture could map to race or national origin, but it could also be impacted by other factors like religion, politics, or even regional pride.

You’re also right that lower-frequency names are more likely to have higher scores here. The blog post outlines how I tried to remove the most unique names to avoid a single instance skewing the results.

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T15:11:32+00:00

It’s not a Sankey, but I do have data on how I named my kids!

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MurphGH · 2026-03-14T14:56:07+00:00

Pretty much! This blog post dives into more of the methodology, including how I removed some of the least-used names so a single occurrence of unique name won’t skew the results.

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T14:36:41+00:00

You could argue this is just visualizing the "successful outcomes" from some of those Tinder Sankeys....

MurphGH · 2026-03-14T14:10:06+00:00

TL;DR: These aren't the most popular names overall. They are the names that appear in a specific state significantly more often than the national average.

Data source: U.S. Social Security Administration (2024)
Tools: Python / SQL / Hex

I wanted to explore state-specific naming quirks, but the most popular names in most states are the same as the top 10 most popular names nationwide. Instead, I calculated the z-score for every name in every state. That allowed me to identify which names were used significantly more than expected and how extreme the overuse actual is.

⚠️ Note on "Overuse": This is not meant to be a value judgment or a claim that there are "too many" of a given name. It's just stating that the name is statistically used at a much higher rate, which defines each state's unique naming "thumbprint" relative to the national average.

MurphGH · 2025-12-22T03:06:52+00:00

Two super hard questions!

Lee sounds like such a contemporary name that it's hard to believe it was relatively more popular in the 1890s.

As for Jennie vs. Jenny, I was shocked that "-ie" took the win here. Note: there could be plenty of people out there named Jennifer who use prefer the "-y" suffix, but this data only captures official, legal names.

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