Mississippi Has More Distinctive Baby Names Than Almost Any State
Ann is given to Mississippi girls 14 times more often than the national rate. Kamarion runs at 13 times, Tylan at 11, and Kaisley at nearly 10. Mississippi produces just 0.74% of US births, yet 34 separate names appear there at five times the national rate or better — more than any state outside New York and New Jersey.
| Name | Sex | Mississippi lift | MS births | US births | Expected at national rate | MS's share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ann | F | 14.2x | 92 | 872 | 7 | 10.6% |
| Kamarion | M | 13.4x | 50 | 504 | 4 | 9.9% |
| Tylan | M | 11.4x | 63 | 747 | 6 | 8.4% |
| Kaisley | F | 9.8x | 67 | 922 | 7 | 7.3% |
| Rowdy | M | 9.6x | 61 | 858 | 6 | 7.1% |
| Kyleigh | F | 9.5x | 66 | 937 | 7 | 7.0% |
| Mattie | F | 9.5x | 68 | 968 | 7 | 7.0% |
| Kacey | M | 8.4x | 50 | 805 | 6 | 6.2% |
| Kaiser | M | 8.3x | 86 | 1,393 | 10 | 6.2% |
| Jamir | M | 7.8x | 144 | 2,484 | 18 | 5.8% |
| Malaysia | F | 7.8x | 101 | 1,744 | 13 | 5.8% |
| Harmoni | F | 7.7x | 75 | 1,310 | 10 | 5.7% |
Which baby names are most distinctive to Mississippi?
Ann leads at 14.2 times the national rate, with 92 Mississippi girls against an expected seven. Kamarion follows at 13.4×, Tylan at 11.4×, Kaisley at 9.8×, and Rowdy at 9.6×. Thirty-four names clear five times the national rate — remarkable depth for a state this small.
Three threads run through the list. There’s a traditional Southern one, carried by Ann and Mattie, names that peaked generations ago and never fully left. There’s a large invented and respelled group, heavy on K: Kaisley, Kyleigh, Kacey, Kaiser, Kaisen, Kylan, Kyson, Karson. And there’s a third group of coined names including Kamarion, Tylan, Jamir, Harmoni, and Malaysia.
Rowdy at 9.6× is its own thing entirely.
Does Mississippi still use old-fashioned names?
More than almost anywhere. Ann peaked in Mississippi at 112 births in 1946 and still runs at about 15 a year — enough to make it the state’s single most distinctive name. Mattie peaked at 304 in 1925 and is rising again, from nine girls in 2012 to 18 in 2025.
The state’s overall top names tell the same story. From 2021 to 2025, Mississippi’s most common names were John, James, William, Elijah, Noah, and Ava. Mississippi is the only state in this series where John and James lead the list — everywhere else it’s Liam, Noah, or Oliver.
John has fallen a long way: 1,219 Mississippi boys in 1947, down to 151 in 2025. But it’s still first.
Which Mississippi names are rising and which are fading?
Jamir has gone from fewer than five boys in 2012 to 31 in 2025. Mattie has doubled. Rowdy went from nothing to 13. Meanwhile Malaysia has collapsed from a 2017 peak of 41 girls to nine, and Kaisley is off its 2020 high.
| Name | 2012 | 2016 | 2021 | 2025 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamir (M) | — | 5 | 21 | 31 | Rising sharply |
| Mattie (F) | 9 | 11 | 10 | 18 | Rising |
| Rowdy (M) | — | — | 11 | 13 | Rising |
| Ann (F) | 15 | 16 | 16 | 15 | Steady |
| Kaisley (F) | — | 6 | 12 | 9 | Past peak |
| John (M) | 170 | 186 | 180 | 151 | Slowly declining |
| Malaysia (F) | 30 | 37 | 25 | 9 | Collapsing |
Ann is the quiet standout. It has sat at 15 or 16 births a year for well over a decade — no growth, no decline, just a name that Mississippi keeps using at a rate the rest of the country abandoned eighty years ago.
How does Mississippi compare to other states?
On depth, Mississippi is fourth in the country behind New York, New Jersey, and Michigan — and those are all far larger states. On a per-birth basis, Mississippi packs more distinctive names into fewer babies than anywhere.
On peak lift it’s more modest. Ann at 14.2× beats Utah’s top name but falls well short of Minnesota’s Mahir at 34.9× or Hawaii’s Kaikoa. Mississippi’s signature isn’t one extreme name. It’s that the whole distribution is shifted.
Alabama shows a related pattern — Ann at 9.0×, Tylan at 6.1×, Mattie at 4.7× — which suggests a Deep South naming region rather than something specific to Mississippi.
Where does this data come from?
The figures come from the Social Security Administration’s state-level baby name files, which record every name given to at least five babies of one sex in a state in a given year, drawn from Social Security card applications. The records run from 1910 through 2025. We analyzed 2021 through 2025 and required at least 50 state births and 250 national births for a name to qualify.
Two caveats. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state-year are suppressed, which is why several entries show blanks in early years. And the files record where a baby was born, not where the family lives now.
Source: Social Security Administration — Baby Names by State
Analysis covers births 2021–2025. Published September 2026.
Disclaimer
This article is for general informational purposes only. Information and conditions are subject to change. Verify current details directly with the relevant source before making any decisions.
