The Baby Names That Are Far More Common in Louisiana Than Anywhere Else

Beaux is the most distinctively Louisiana name in America. Louisiana families claim 18 of every 100 babies given the name nationwide, from a state responsible for 1.4% of US births — nearly 13 times the national rate. Khaza, Landry, Jolie, Kamari, and Demi follow close behind, each at least six times more common in Louisiana than in the country at large.

Name	Sex	Louisiana lift	LA births	US births	Expected at national rate	LA's share
Beaux	M	12.9x	145	826	11	17.6%
Khaza	M	9.4x	122	959	13	12.7%
Landry	F	8.1x	112	1,019	14	11.0%
Jolie	F	7.0x	123	1,289	18	9.5%
Kamari	F	6.4x	109	1,251	17	8.7%
Demi	F	6.2x	314	3,756	51	8.4%
Kaiser	M	5.8x	110	1,393	19	7.9%
Denver	F	5.3x	111	1,554	21	7.1%
Armani	F	5.2x	211	2,975	40	7.1%
Camille	F	4.9x	400	6,062	82	6.6%
Tru	M	4.7x	129	2,013	27	6.4%
Jream	F	4.5x	116	1,892	26	6.1%

What does it mean for a name to be “distinctively Louisiana”?

It means concentration, not popularity. We compared each name’s share of Louisiana births from 2021 through 2025 against its share of births nationwide, then ranked the gap. A lift of 8× means the name turns up eight times more often in Louisiana than in the country as a whole. Names needed at least 100 Louisiana births and 500 nationally to qualify.

The “expected” column is the part worth sitting with. If Louisiana named its babies the way the rest of America does, about 11 boys there would have been named Beaux over five years. The actual count was 145.

Which baby names are most distinctive to Louisiana?

Beaux leads at 12.9 times the national rate — 145 Louisiana boys against an expected 11. Khaza (9.4×), Landry (8.1×), Jolie (7.0×), Kamari (6.4×), and Demi (6.2×) round out the top six. Every name in Louisiana’s top twelve draws at least 6% of its nationwide total from a state that produces 1.4% of American babies.

Three currents run through the list, and they don’t have much to do with each other. There’s the French inheritance you’d expect — Beaux, Landry, Jolie, Camille. There’s a deep bench of invented and respelled names, heavy on the letter K: Khaza, Kaiser, Kaizer, Kyzer, Kruz, Kross, Kohen, Kason, Karson. And there’s a set of word names used as given names, including Tru, Demi, Denim, Charm, and Dream.

Lower the threshold and it gets stranger. Denim sits at 9.0×. Charm at 11.9×. Blessyn at 6.5×.

Do Louisiana families still use French names?

Less than you’d think, and the trend is heading down. Landry has fallen from 33 Louisiana girls in 2016 to 24 in 2025. Jolie has dropped from 37 to 24 over the same stretch. Camille, the most common French name on the list at 400 births, has drifted from 85 a year to 73. Only Beaux is gaining ground, up from 22 in 2016 to 29 in 2025.

Name	2016	2019	2022	2025	Direction
Beaux (M)	22	29	29	29	Holding, slightly up
Camille (F)	85	84	82	73	Drifting down
Landry (F)	33	38	21	24	Declining
Jolie (F)	37	30	25	24	Declining

So the French names are still distinctively Louisiana — they just aren’t growing. The names carrying the state’s distinctiveness forward are the invented ones, which is a quieter story than “Cajun heritage endures” but a truer one.

Did the Saints change what Louisiana names its babies?

The clearest case is Taysom. Before 2019, the name barely registered anywhere in America. Taysom Hill’s breakout season with the New Orleans Saints put 17 Louisiana boys on the rolls that year, then 25 in each of the next two. The name reaches 26.5× the national rate for 2021 through 2025 — the highest lift of any name in the state.

Year	Louisiana boys named Taysom
2018	(fewer than 5)
2019	17
2020	25
2021	25
2022	13
2023	8
2024	12
2025	7

Then it faded, right along with the career. By 2025 the count was down to 7. Few datasets let you watch a quarterback’s arc play out in birth certificates, but this one does.

Jru and Jrue both appear on Louisiana’s list too, at 12.0× and 5.8×. Jrue Holiday spent seven seasons with the Pelicans. Worth noting that Jrue has been climbing nationally since his 2021 championship in Milwaukee, so that one isn’t purely a Louisiana story.

Are Louisiana’s most popular names also its most unusual?

Not remotely. From 2021 to 2025, Louisiana’s most common names were Liam, Noah, Elijah, Amelia, Olivia, James, John, and Charlotte — nearly the same list topping the charts in every other state. Louisiana’s real character lives far below the top tier, among names given to a hundred or two hundred children rather than a thousand.

This is why “most popular baby names in Louisiana” pages are so forgettable. They return the national top ten with the order shuffled. The distinctiveness only shows up when you compare rates instead of rankings.

How does Louisiana compare to other states?

Louisiana produces one of the highest single-name lifts in the country outside New York and New Jersey, where Hasidic naming traditions generate extreme concentrations. Beaux at 12.9× beats anything Utah offers, and Taysom at 26.5× beats almost everything anywhere.

What Louisiana doesn’t have is Utah’s depth. Utah sustains eight names above 8× lift; Louisiana sustains three. The state has a few very sharp signatures rather than a broadly distinct naming culture. Tennessee, for comparison, tops out around 4× and has no real signature at all.

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 100 state births and 500 national births for a name to qualify for the main ranking.

Two caveats. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state-year are suppressed entirely, which is why Taysom shows no 2018 figure — it existed, just below the cutoff. 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.