Visitor Question: Why can't I find my baby's name in my state's statistics?

I received an excellent question from Catherine in California about the Baby Name Map. Her daughter, Eloise, was born in 2006 and she was wondering why her name wasn't in the list of statistics for that year in her state.

Unfortunately, the statistics released by the Social Security Administration only include the top 100 baby names for any given US state. Eloise does appear on the map in New York City which publishes all names used 10 times or more in a year. As well, places like Alberta in Canada and Scotland in the UK record all baby names given, even those only given to a single baby.

So, each region has a different level of detail in the statistics that are released, which explains why a name appears in some places and not in others. I'm always on the lookout for better sources of baby name popularity statistics, so don't hesitate to contact me if you know of another source of official statistics for your area.

Top baby names in the United States for 2007

The US Social Security Administration office has released the top baby names given in the USA during 2007.  Jacob and Emily maintained the top spots, though both dropped from last year in the number of babies with those names.  I've updated the Baby Name Map with the 2007 data so you can search the most recent statistics for your favorite names and compare their popularity.