It’s always interesting to take a look at which names are most popular where.  You can usually count on some surprises and this year is no exception.  For instance Anna ranking in the top five in both Alabama and Mississippi, when it’s down at 29 across the country, and Logan, which is #17 on the Social Security list, now the #1 boys’ name in three widespread states—Idaho, Minnesota and New Hampshire.

　　Repeating the pattern of last year, the majority of names that popped out from the crowd were in the boys’ column; for the girls’ names across the country there was a remarkable uniformity of choice—with Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Madison, or Ava heading the list in all but two states, while on the male side, there were several top singletons, such as Wyatt in Wyoming and Ryan in Massachusetts.

　　But what are really most intriguing are the names that jump out of nowhere in one particular place—some of them throwbacks, some predictive of future popularity, some reflecting the state’s ethnicity, such as Gianna in New Jersey and José, the most common name in Texas.

　　Here are some of the names that were not even in the Top 25 nationally, but rated high in specific areas, with their national ratings in parenthesis:

　　ALLISON  (30)—     #1 in the District of Columbia

　　ANNA (29)  —          #4 in Alabama

　　BROOKLYN (37)      #4 in Utah

　　CHARLOTTE (68)    #8 in the District f Columbia

　　FAITH (80)  ——-  #10 in Hawaii

　　GABRIELLA (33) — #10 in Rhode Island

　　GIANNA (76) ——  #11 in New Jersey

　　KATHERINE (60)  –   #4 in the District of Columbia

　　KAYLEE (26) —— –  #10 in West Virginia

　　LILLIAN (27) ——    #10 in Indiana

　　MAKAYLA (44)  — – #9 in Mississippi

　　NEVEAH (34)—         #4 in New Mexico

　　ZOE  (47)  ——– —    #9 in the District of Columbia

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　　ANGEL (37)  ——– #4 in Arizona and Texas

　　BRAYDEN (47) —– #6 in West Virginia

　　CALEB (31) ———  #6 in Hawaii

　　CARTER (50) ——–#3 in Iowa

　　CHASE (61) ———-#8 in Pennsylvania

　　GAVIN ((33) ——— #3 in South Dakota

　　HUNTER (56) ——-  #2 in West Virginia

　　ISAAC (40)  ——- –#4 in Utah

　　ISAIAH (41) ———#7 in New Mexico

　　JACK (42) ————#3 in North Dakota

　　JOSE (43) ———— #1 in Texas

　　JOSIAH (87) ———#10 in New Mexico