science

Popularity of birth names for females (United States)

Popularity of birth names for females (United States) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Popularity of birth names for females (United States) rather than just read about it. In short: Popularity of birth names for females in the United States lists the most popular names given baby girls between 1926 and 2025. The most popular names given baby girls are also listed by decades beginning in the 1880s.

Key takeaways

Popularity of birth names for females (United States) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Popularity of birth names for females (United States) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Popularity of birth names for females (United States) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Popularity of birth names for females in the United States lists the most popular names given baby girls between 1926 and 2025. The most popular names given baby girls are also listed by decades beginning in the 1880s. The data illustrates the rise and fall in the popularity of names given to baby girls. The Social Security Administration rank orders for popular names from 1926 to 2025. Thus the numerical ranking does not take into account births between 1880 and 1925. The ranking is also influenced by the varying number of children born in each decade. In addition, people born before 1937 but alive in that year sometimes did not register for social security cards and are not included in the data. The years in which total births reached a peak in numbers with more than four million births are 1954-1964 and 2000-2009. Names popular in those years would likely rank higher on this list that names popular in years in which fewer births were recorded. A few names -- Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Anna -- have enduring popularity. They are listed in the top 200 popular baby female names for every decade from the 1880s to the 2020s. Others show a rise and fall in popularity over as few as five decades. Some (Susan, Emily, Amy, Amanda, and Emma) have risen and fallen and risen again in popularity. The rise and fall of the popularity of a name can be remarkable. In 1938, for example, only 38 babies were given the name "Jennifer." In 1972, Jennifer was the most popular name given to girl babies born in the U.S. with 63,600. In 1974, 4.029 percent of the female babies born were given the name Jennifer. By 2025, Jennifer had fallen out of favor with only 501 babies given the name. The Social Security Administration (SSA) compiled this information about female births. In accordance with SSA practice, names are listed with the exact spelling of the birth name. For example, "Sarah" and "Sara" are listed separately with "Sarah" on the top 50 list while "Sara" is not. "Katherine" is listed as a popular name, but "Catherine" is not among the most 50 most popular names.

Rank in popularity of birth names given females born in the United States (a dash means not in top 200 names)

Source:

Top 50 female birth names: Top year in rank and numbers of babies given that name (1880–2025)

Source: Note: Year of most popularity is listed by percentage of total female births. In a few cases, there may be more births with that name in one year but a higher percentage of births with that same name in another year.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Popularity of birth names for females (United States)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Popularity of birth names for females (United States) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Popularity of birth names for females (United States) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Popularity of birth names for females (United States) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Popularity of birth names for females (United States)

In research: Popularity of birth names for females (United States) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Popularity of birth names for females (United States) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Popularity of birth names for females (United States) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birth, Demographics of the United States, Feminine given names, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Popularity of birth names for females (United States) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Popularity of birth names for females (United States)” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Popularity of birth names for females (United States) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Popularity of birth names for females (United States) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Popularity of birth names for females (United States) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Popularity of birth names for females (United States) in simple terms?

Why does Popularity of birth names for females (United States) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Popularity of birth names for females (United States)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Popularity of birth names for females (United States).