--- description: This interactive map shows how your name has spread across America over time. Type in your name to find out where it was popular and when title: See Where Your Name Was Most Popular Over the Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [baby names](/tag/baby-names/) ## baby names Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Where Your Name Was Most Popular Over the Years  by [Chris Wilson](/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2017 2:04 PM CUT  by [Chris Wilson](/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2017 2:04 PM CUT The Social Security Administration has released [new data ](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/ "undefined")on the names of nearly every baby born in 2016, including figures on how common [each name ](http://time.com/3856405/baby-name-popularity/ "undefined")was in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Just like all trends, [baby names](http://time.com/3856405/baby-name-popularity/ "undefined") do not always rise and fall uniformly across the country. Some names, like the male name “Ryker” or the female name “Brynlee,” are concentrated in the West, for example, while others take the entire country by storm (looking at you, “Olivia”). To investigate this phenomenon, TIME built an interactive map that shows you how any name has spread across the nation over the years. See how yours has fared: Click the timeline to pause the animation and drag to any year where your name was sufficiently popular to show up in the data. The Social Security Administration only publishes data on names that were given to at least five newborns in a particular state and year, so sometimes names on a very low simmer don’t show up at all. You can also use the buttons below the map to share a customized image of your name’s popularity for 2016, or in some cases the last year in which there was data for it. If your name doesn’t show up in 2016, don’t despair. They always come back. **Methodology** Names are calculated by rank instead of percentage since the Social Security Administration does not publish the total number of babies born per state. Names are included in the database if they show up in at least five states over a 10-year period and were last sufficiently common between 1990 and the present — a total of 5,013 names from “Aaryan” to “Zyaire.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4776281/baby-names-popular-states/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4776281/baby-names-popular-states/"},"headline":"See Where Your Name Was Most Popular Over the Years","datePublished":"2017-05-19T14:04:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:53:11.489Z","description":"Find out how your name spread across America","url":"https://time.com/4776281/baby-names-popular-states/","keywords":["baby names","Map","interactive studio"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/baby-names/","name":"baby names"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4776281/baby-names-popular-states/","name":"See Where Your Name Was Most Popular Over the Years"}}]}] ```