20 Most Popular State-Themed Baby Names for Boys & Girls

Utah was exclusively used as a baby boys' name in the last decade. Per the study, 33 boys were given this moniker but no girls. Kind of a shame — we think it's a cute gender-neutral name. Someone out there needs to name their daughter Utah. She's guaranteed to be unique.

Louisiana is such a cute baby name, even if there's not necessarily a familial connection to the state. Over the last 10 years, 38 baby girls were given this moniker. Hopefully they get to grow up and visit their namesake state if they're not already from there.

The state of Missouri has the honor of having 44 baby girls named after it over the last 10 years. And the real debate among them may be how to pronounce it. Some people call the state "Missourah" and some say "Missouree." Hope these 44 girls don't get tired of explaining their pronunciation to people.

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York is actually a city in England, but it also lent its name to New York state when the United States were formed. Are the 11 girls and 94 boys named York named after the UK version or the US version? We may never know. Maybe they're named in honor of Sex and the City character Charlotte York or the York Peppermint Patties.

Only 105 girls in the last decade can call themselves true California girls, because they're actually named California. There's so much to love about the state from its beaches to its culture-packed cities, so it's not surprising that some parents wanted to pay homage with their baby names.

There were 110 Alabamas born in the last year — all of them girls. Nine of them were born just last year, per the Social Security Administration data. It's really so interesting to speculate wither these people actually live in their namesake state or if their parents just had a connection that they wanted to honor.

There were 115 boys born in the last decade who were named Washington — and zero girls. George Washington may have been a male president and Denzel Washington may be a male actor, but we think this could make a cuts girls' name too. Maybe this year some parents will decide to make it more of a gender neutral option.

There's a lot of state pride in Texas, so we're not surprised that it's a popular baby name too. We'd bet a good chunk of the 17 girls and 123 boys with this name were born in the state or their parents were. It would be a little funny to be a person living in a place with their same name, though.

In the last decade, 237 girls and 34 boys were named after the state of Kansas. Or maybe there were named after Kansas City in Missouri. Either way, it's a super cute name for any midwest babies. Perhaps the name will rise in popularity now that the Kansas City Chiefs keep winning Super Bowls.

Nevada isn't broadly known for much beyond being home to Las Vegas, but it can also be known for being the 11th most popular state baby name. There were 306 girls and 64 boys named Nevada over the last decade, according to BeenVerified's study.

It seems like Tennessee is considered a pretty gender neutral name by parents, because there was nearly an even split between boys and girls named after this state. There were 277 girls and 213 boys named Tennessee in the last 10 years. Slightly more common as a girls' name, but it works well for both.

Alaska was the ninth most popular state baby name, thanks almost entirely to the population of young girls given this moniker. A whopping 749 girls were named Alaska in the last 10 years compared to just eight boys. In 2023 alone, 100 girls were given the name.

Over 1,000 girls got the name Arizona in the last decade, and 33 boys were given the moniker as well. The southwestern state is known for its beautiful national parks, like the Grand Canyon and the Saguaro cactus preserve. No wonder so many parents wanted to name their baby after the state.

A total of over 1,600 babies were named Indiana in the last 10 years, but the split between boys and girls was almost equal. Slightly more girls were given the moniker — 952, to be exact. But there were still 734 boys with the name as well. It doesn't hurt that Indiana Jones is a male film icon.

New Jersey has 1,445 baby girls seemingly named in its honor, as well as 340 boys. The original Jersey was an island between England and France, per the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Although New Jersey isn't an island, it is known for its beach shores.

Montana, with its big sky and gorgeous scenery is a beautiful state to turn into a baby name. Thousands of parents did just that in the last decade, naming over 2,000 babies Montana. Of those, over 1,300 were girls but there were 899 boys named Montana as well.

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Virginia is one of those baby names that's popular even when it's not on a state-specific list. For example, it's the fourth most common state-themed baby name of the last decade, with 5,670 girls given that name. But it also was also in the top 1000 girls' names overall in 2023, per the Social Security Administration.

Naming a child Carolina can be a reference to two states, since there's a North Carolina and a South Carolina. That basically doubles its popularity odds. As such, it's unsurprising that a whopping 7,192 baby girls were named Carolina in the last 10 years.

The second most popular state name for babies? Georgia. A total of 15,673 baby girls were given this moniker over the last decade, per the BeenVerified study. No baby boys were given the name, but it reigned nearly most supreme on girl power alone.

And the number one state-themed baby name was Dakota. We bet actress Dakota Johnson feels in good company with the over 20,000 babies who shared that moniker over the last decade. The majority of the Dakota babies were girls — 12,573 to be exact. But there was also nearly 10,000 boys with the name as well.