This is more than just baby names.
For the first time in decades, the federal government published data showing the most common first names of the entire population.
The U.S. Census Bureau took reported names from its latest decennial census, diced the data up, cleaned and analyzed it, and made that data available. NBC News calculated how the most-used 1,000 first and last names have changed from 1990 to 2020.
The new No. 1 first name? Michael, up from fifth in 1990. Michael’s not alone: Eight of 2020’s top 10 first names skew male.
Male names dominate the list of most common first names because there’s less variety in baby boy names than baby girl names, Census Bureau senior geographer Joshua Comenetz said in a report.
While most first names have a clear gender bent, the Census Bureau identified three names that straddle the spectrum: Harley, Emerson and Quinn, which each have roughly as many boys and men with the name as women and girls.
Last names are slower to change: Ten of the 20 most common last names in 1790 — such as Smith, Brown and Johnson — are still in the top 20 more than two centuries later.
Certain demographic changes are visible in the more recent data. In 1990, two of the 20 most common last names were also top among people of Hispanic or Latino origin: Garcia and Martinez. In 2020, that increased to six: Garcia, Rodriguez, Martinez, Hernandez, Lopez and Gonzalez.
There were more than 50,000 distinct first names in the U.S. as of 2020, according to the Census Bureau.
Far more distinct last names exist — at least 156,000.
