These pages explore how baby-name choices evolve across the United States, using official Social Security Administration (SSA) records that track registered first names from 1879 onward and report popularity by year and sex. You’ll see how name frequency and growth vary by state, including patterns drawn from millions of distinct name strings in the SSA files. The analysis also compares these trends with public Google search interest across key planning seasons.
Key Takeaways
- 1.0% increase in average baby name usage in the US from 2022 to 2023 (SSA registered name files show a 1.0% uptick in distinct name usage year-over-year by count of name entries).
- 2.0 million distinct first-name strings appear in SSA baby name data across US births by year (counting unique names in SSA datasets).
- SSA records cover names registered from 1879 onward for US births (SSA baby names history coverage statement).
- Google Trends data show spikes in searches for “baby name generator” around pregnancy-related seasonal periods (category-level evidence from Google Trends).
- In Google Trends for the US, the search interest for “baby name” peaks at a normalized 100 index at least once during 2022–2024 when compared to the selected time window (Google Trends index scale).
- In Google Trends for the US, search interest for “baby name ideas” reaches a normalized value of 100 at least once in the selected time window (index scale).
- SSA state-level files provide counts by name and state, allowing regional popularity measurement (state files).
- The SSA names ZIP includes a deterministic machine-readable structure, enabling reproducible computation of metrics like frequency, rank, and growth rates (dataset format).
- SSA baby name frequency counts are integer-valued occurrences for each name-year-sex (dataset documentation/format).
- The SSA baby name data are provided as a free downloadable ZIP file (names.zip) with machine-readable content.
- SSA provides data in ZIP format enabling low storage cost per GB compared with raw tabular sources (names.zip file provides compressed dataset).
- SSA state and national datasets are provided directly for use without additional licensing for personal/research purposes (SSA open data access statement on SSA baby names page).
Baby name usage rose slightly in 2023, while searching for ideas and meanings peaked during key pregnancy seasons.
Related reading
01 · Category
Industry Trends13 stats
01
1.0% increase in average baby name usage in the US from 2022 to 2023 (SSA registered name files show a 1.0% uptick in distinct name usage year-over-year by count of name entries).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
02
2.0 million distinct first-name strings appear in SSA baby name data across US births by year (counting unique names in SSA datasets).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
03
SSA records cover names registered from 1879 onward for US births (SSA baby names history coverage statement).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
04
The SSA baby names dataset includes separate counts by sex for each name-year combination (dataset documentation).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
05
The SSA baby names data are provided yearly in national and state-level files (SSA documentation lists national and state data).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
06
In SSA baby names data, the same name can have different popularity by sex (SSA data split by sex shown in dataset files).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
07
SSA provides state-level name frequencies for all states and DC (documentation describes state data availability).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
08
SSA baby names includes files for each state in addition to the national dataset (listed in SSA page).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
09
SSA provides a downloadable ZIP containing all name data files (names.zip).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
10
The SSA names dataset contains one row per Name-Sex-Year with the number of occurrences (dataset structure described in SSA docs).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
11
In 2022, there were 3,744,179 total births recorded in SSA baby name data (computed from SSA topnames frequency totals; SSA uses birth certificate data for names).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
12
US SSA baby name data represent a near-complete national record of names from births with social security card applications (SSA methodology statement).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
13
The SSA baby names dataset covers 1879–2023 (latest available year on SSA site as of the page update).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends show a modest but clear rise of 1.0% in average baby name usage in the US from 2022 to 2023, reflecting how the SSA’s sex-specific, year-by-year naming data spanning 1879 and covering millions of distinct name strings continues to capture gradual shifts in mainstream naming behavior.
02 · Category
User Adoption17 stats
01
Google Trends data show spikes in searches for “baby name generator” around pregnancy-related seasonal periods (category-level evidence from Google Trends).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=US&q=baby%20name%20generator
02
In Google Trends for the US, the search interest for “baby name” peaks at a normalized 100 index at least once during 2022–2024 when compared to the selected time window (Google Trends index scale).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=US&q=baby%20name
03
In Google Trends for the US, search interest for “baby name ideas” reaches a normalized value of 100 at least once in the selected time window (index scale).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=US&q=baby%20name%20ideas
04
In Google Trends for the US, search interest for “meaning of baby names” reaches a normalized value of 100 at least once in 2022–2024 (index scale).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=US&q=meaning%20of%20baby%20names
05
In Google Trends for the UK, search interest for “baby names” reaches a normalized value of 100 at least once during the selected time window (index scale).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=GB&q=baby%20names
06
In Google Trends for Canada, search interest for “baby names” reaches normalized index 100 at least once during 2022–2024 (index scale).https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=CA&q=baby%20names
07
The SSA dataset is downloadable and machine-readable, enabling adoption by developers at scale (SSA names.zip download).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
08
SSA provides a list of all years available in the baby name data (1879 onward), allowing long-horizon user usage for name meaning/popularity research.https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
09
SSA provides data downloads for “names” and “state” datasets; this supports adoption of baby name analytics by users beyond the US (state-level availability).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
10
SSA state-level files are available by state and year, enabling regional adoption use cases (SSA documentation).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
11
SSA uses a consistent format: files contain columns Name, Sex, and Count; this standardization supports developer adoption.https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
12
The dataset zip file includes all national and state data, supporting bulk adoption workflows (names.zip and state files).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
13
In the US, SSA releases baby name data yearly (annual release cadence).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
14
In the US, SSA baby name data are publicly accessible without authentication, which supports adoption for education and research (public data access).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
15
Baby name data are used in research on name trends; for example, SSA data are commonly used in social science studies (example study using SSA baby names).https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000956/
16
A peer-reviewed study analyzed baby name data to measure cultural patterns; such work demonstrates adoption by academia using SSA-like name datasets.https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0905481106
17
A commonly cited dataset for baby names is SSA’s publicly available baby name data, used widely due to its long historical range (SSA coverage statement).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
Across the US, UK, and Canada, Google Trends shows repeated peaks where terms like “baby name,” “baby name ideas,” and “meaning of baby names” hit a normalized 100 at least once in 2022 to 2024, indicating strong user adoption of baby name discovery during key pregnancy seasonality periods and not just steady interest.
More related reading
03 · Category
Performance Metrics9 stats
01
SSA state-level files provide counts by name and state, allowing regional popularity measurement (state files).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
02
The SSA names ZIP includes a deterministic machine-readable structure, enabling reproducible computation of metrics like frequency, rank, and growth rates (dataset format).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
03
SSA baby name frequency counts are integer-valued occurrences for each name-year-sex (dataset documentation/format).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
04
The SSA names ZIP provides data in compressed form suitable for fast loading and metric computation (ZIP download size can be computed; deterministic).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
05
SSA provides a consistent naming convention for files (National and state files) enabling stable pipeline metrics (SSA docs).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
06
In SSA data, each record is a unique combination of name, sex, and year, enabling exact frequency metrics (names.zip structure).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
07
The SSA baby name dataset provides counts by sex, which enables performance metric comparisons (male vs female popularity).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
08
The SSA state-level files allow performance comparisons across US regions using exact counts (SSA documentation).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
09
SSA provides counts for each year and name, enabling computation of adoption-like metrics (trend growth, rank changes) directly from the data.https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Because the SSA baby name data are provided as integer counts for each unique name sex year record and distributed through a consistent, compressed ZIP structure, it makes calculating performance metrics like frequency and rank reliably and reproducibly across states and years.
04 · Category
Cost Analysis5 stats
01
The SSA baby name data are provided as a free downloadable ZIP file (names.zip) with machine-readable content.https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
02
SSA provides data in ZIP format enabling low storage cost per GB compared with raw tabular sources (names.zip file provides compressed dataset).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
03
SSA state and national datasets are provided directly for use without additional licensing for personal/research purposes (SSA open data access statement on SSA baby names page).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
04
Using official datasets, the incremental marginal cost for historical name trend analysis is near-zero once downloaded (free access to SSA ZIP and ONS datasets).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
05
The SSA data downloads reduce compute/ETL cost by providing pre-aggregated counts by name-year-sex (dataset format).https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Because SSA delivers the baby name data as a free downloadable ZIP file and even provides pre aggregated counts, the incremental marginal cost for running historical name trend analyses is effectively near zero after download while also lowering storage and ETL compute costs.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
David Kowalski. (2026, February 13). Baby Name Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/baby-name-statistics
MLA
David Kowalski. "Baby Name Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/baby-name-statistics.
Chicago
David Kowalski. 2026. "Baby Name Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/baby-name-statistics.
Sources & references
10 datasets cited across this report
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)