NAMES BY STATE

Most popular baby names in California

Ranked by estimated births in California (CA) — each name's U.S. total weighted by the share of its births that came from the state. SSA data, 1910–2025. Only names that count California among their five biggest states appear, so smaller states list fewer names.

#	Name	Gender	Est. births in CA	Share from CA	Total U.S. births	Peak year	Origin
🥇 1	Michael	Male	889,726	20%	4,448,633	1957	Hebrew, English, German, Italian
🥈 2	Mary	Female	831,330	20%	4,156,654	1921	Hebrew, English, Latin
🥉 3	David	Male	774,818	21%	3,689,613	1955	Hebrew, English
4	Richard	Male	543,287	21%	2,587,082	1946	German, English, French
5	Joseph	Male	482,438	18%	2,680,213	1956	Hebrew, English, French, Italian
6	Thomas	Male	449,746	19%	2,367,087	1952	English, German, Latin
7	Christopher	Male	436,611	21%	2,079,103	1984	English, Greek, Latin
8	Daniel	Male	418,129	21%	1,991,091	1985	Hebrew, English, German, Spanish, Italian
9	Patricia	Female	363,074	23%	1,578,584	1951	Latin, English, Irish, Spanish
10	Elizabeth	Female	355,734	21%	1,693,973	1990	English, Hebrew, Greek
11	Matthew	Male	348,527	21%	1,659,655	1983	Hebrew, English
12	Jennifer	Female	324,838	22%	1,476,540	1972	English, Hebrew
13	Anthony	Male	313,982	21%	1,495,156	1990	Latin, Greek, Italian
14	Linda	Female	306,368	21%	1,458,899	1947	English, Spanish, Italian, German
15	Andrew	Male	293,571	22%	1,334,415	1987	English, Scottish, Greek
16	Mark	Male	287,001	21%	1,366,672	1960	English, Latin
17	Kevin	Male	285,562	24%	1,189,844	1963	Irish, Scottish
18	Steven	Male	285,469	22%	1,297,590	1956	English, Scottish, Greek
19	Donald	Male	284,077	20%	1,420,387	1934	Scottish, English, Irish
20	Kenneth	Male	283,648	22%	1,289,312	1957	English, Scottish, Irish
21	Paul	Male	280,827	20%	1,404,135	1957	Latin, French, English
22	Barbara	Female	273,757	19%	1,440,831	1947	Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, German
23	Edward	Male	261,791	20%	1,308,955	1924	English, German, Scottish
24	Brian	Male	259,225	22%	1,178,298	1972	Irish, English
25	Margaret	Female	241,018	19%	1,268,519	1921	English, Scottish, Greek
26	Susan	Female	236,464	21%	1,126,022	1955	English, Hebrew, Latin
27	Sarah	Female	231,385	21%	1,101,838	1982	Hebrew, English, French
28	Timothy	Male	228,589	21%	1,088,520	1959	English, Greek
29	Jessica	Female	221,404	21%	1,054,307	1987	English, Hebrew, Latin
30	Karen	Female	217,970	22%	990,774	1957	English, Irish, Danish
31	Ronald	Male	217,218	20%	1,086,091	1947	English, Scottish, Irish
32	Jeffrey	Male	216,281	22%	983,099	1962	Hebrew, English, German
33	Nancy	Female	211,552	21%	1,007,393	1947	English, Hebrew
34	Jason	Male	211,411	20%	1,057,058	1977	Hebrew, Greek
35	Ryan	Male	208,266	21%	991,747	1985	Irish, Scottish
36	Jacob	Male	208,011	21%	990,532	1998	Hebrew, English
37	Kimberly	Female	204,159	24%	850,666	1970	English, American
38	Lisa	Female	203,702	21%	970,012	1965	Hebrew, Italian, English
39	Sandra	Female	201,991	23%	878,223	1947	Spanish, Italian, Greek
40	Betty	Female	200,971	20%	1,004,857	1930	English, Hebrew
41	Eric	Male	196,500	22%	893,184	1970	German, English, Scandinavian
42	Nicholas	Male	195,131	21%	929,199	1995	Greek, English, French, Italian, Spanish
43	Frank	Male	193,323	21%	920,589	1918	English, German
44	Stephen	Male	190,887	22%	867,669	1952	English, Greek
45	Gary	Male	190,141	21%	905,438	1952	English, Scottish
46	Emily	Female	188,642	21%	898,296	1999	English, French, German, Latin
47	Michelle	Female	188,544	23%	819,760	1969	French, Hebrew, Latin
48	Brandon	Male	185,916	24%	774,654	1992	English, Scottish
49	Jonathan	Male	183,632	21%	874,440	1988	Hebrew, English
50	Anna	Female	183,523	20%	917,615	1918	Hebrew, Latin, Scandinavian

PREMIERE MOBILE COMPANION

Get the full Name Scout experience on iOS & Android

Swipe through names with your partner, run AI-powered phonetic analysis, generate tournament brackets, and sync favorites across devices. Backed by 33,000+ names from SSA records (1910–2025).

✦ Partner Swipe Match ✦ AI Name Analysis ✦ Bracket Tournaments ✦ Offline SSA Database

App Store Google Play