Name Trends & Data
9 guides
Boy Names That Used to Be Girl Names: What the SSA Data Shows
SSA birth data shows names like Ashley, Leslie, and Shirley once belonged mostly to boys before crossing over almost entirely to girls.
September 18, 2026
Baby Names by State: How Regional Taste Shows Up in the SSA Data
How to read SSA state-level baby name files: why small states look noisier, and how region shapes naming taste across the US.
September 8, 2026
The Most Common Full Names in America
Why James Smith keeps coming up as the most common full name, how first-and-last combinations actually get counted, and how to check your own name.
September 8, 2026
What Your Name's Peak Year Says About You
How SSA birth data pins down the single year a name peaked, and what that year quietly reveals about who is likely to have it.
September 8, 2026
America's Disappearing Names: Once Everywhere, Now Gone
Names don't fade overnight. They slip below the SSA's five-baby floor and quietly vanish from the record, one christening at a time.
August 2, 2026
The Fastest-Rising Baby Names in America
What actually launches a name from obscurity to the charts, and how to spot the next fastest-rising baby names before everyone else does.
August 1, 2026
How the Social Security Baby Name Data Works
Where SSA baby name rankings actually come from, what the five-baby privacy rule hides, and why the file can't see nicknames or names given before 1937.
July 31, 2026
The 100-Year Rule: Why Vintage Names Keep Coming Back
Why do names skip a generation before coming back? The 100-year rule for baby names, explained with real revival examples from SSA data.
July 30, 2026
Why Every Jennifer Is About 50: How First Names Date Us
SSA baby-name data shows how Jennifer, Linda, and Michael pin down a birth decade at a glance, and what your own name reveals about you.
July 29, 2026