What is the most popular baby name in Tennessee?

On a heavy SSA book, Tennessee's cumulative #1 boy is James (175,232 births) and #1 girl is Mary (106,691 births) since 1910.

How have baby names changed in Tennessee over the decades?

Tennessee is TREND-LED today: latest-year leaders already differ from the all-time book on both sexes. Decade #1s moved from James/Mary (1910s) to Liam/Olivia (2020s).

How many babies are named in Tennessee?

Our data covers 2,754,482 name registrations in Tennessee for the top 50 boys and top 50 girls names (DENSE volume stamp · #16 of 51 jurisdictions). The SSA records all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year, from 1910 through 2025.

State name profile

Most Popular Baby Names in Tennessee

The boys' and girls' names most often given in Tennessee, ranked by total recorded births in Social Security Administration state data, 1910–2025.

Compiled byNameAlmanac, Independent data publisher

James
#1 boy name: Mary
#1 girl name: 2,754,482
Births recorded: 1910–2025
Years covered

Tennessee's all-time #1 names are James for boys and Mary for girls, based on 2,754,482 SSA birth registrations since 1910.

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Tennessee has recorded 2,754,482 births across its top 50 boy and top 50 girl names since 1910. James leads all boys with 175,232 births, while Mary tops the girls with 106,691. This profile covers decade-by-decade leaders and the full top-50 rankings for both sexes.

James #1 boy name
Mary #1 girl name
2,754,482 births recorded

Where Tennessee sits by recorded name volume

Tennessee: 7,123,698 SSA name registrations (DENSE · rank 16/51). Inventory signal only, orthogonal to the top-50 lists below.

Tennessee vs all states by SSA name registrations

Where this state's disclosed SSA name-state registration total sits among every tracked jurisdiction

7,123,698 16th of 51 higher than 35 of 51 states

Jurisdictions, banded by SSA name-registration count

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source Social Security Administration state baby-name files · 2026-08-11

Tennessee naming snapshot

According to SSA state files through 2025, Mary is #1 of 106,691 cumulative SSA births in Tennessee ≠ Charlotte #1 of 1,312 2025 girl names at all-time rank #51; James is #1 of 175,232 cumulative SSA births in Tennessee ≠ Noah #1 of 1,187 2025 boy names at all-time rank #51.

Charlotte
2025 girls #1, all-time #51: Mary
all-time girls #1, 2025 #51: Noah
2025 boys #1, all-time #51: James
all-time boys #1, 2025 #4

Both sexes in Tennessee already split latest-year vs all-time leaders, cumulative totals since 1910 and 2025 use different denominators.

Data updated Aug 2026

Both sexes trend-led

What a heavy registry book shows for Tennessee

Tennessee sits in the heaviest third of SSA name-state registration totals (7,123,698 · DENSE · #16/51). Cumulative top-50 leaders are James (175,232 boy births) and Mary (106,691 girl births) across 2,754,482 top-50 registrations since 1910. Both sexes are TREND-LED: the latest 2025 #1 differs from the all-time cumulative #1 on each side. Boy top-50 share 1,687,542 vs 1,066,940 for girls.

In Tennessee, the latest SSA year #1 differs from the all-time cumulative #1 for both boys and girls, a dual trend split against the long book.

Coverage notes on a heavy state file

Decade-by-decade data for Tennessee extends back to 1910. In the 1910s, the #1 boy name was James and the #1 girl name was Mary. By the 2020s, the top names had shifted to Liam for boys and Olivia for girls.

SSA state files include any name appearing five or more times in a given state-year; lower-frequency names are suppressed for privacy. Figures are comparable across all 50 states and DC. Alternate spellings (Sophia vs Sofia) are separate names; middle names are not tracked. This page is for informational and research purposes.

Charlotte

423
Amelia

342
Olivia

276
Emma

270
Sophia

244
Evelyn

242
Eleanor

242
Harper

220
Elizabeth

218
Willow

197

What this shows Charlotte leads 2025 girls in Tennessee; Mary remains the all-time cumulative #1 at rank #51 in 2025.

Noah

444
Liam

425
Oliver

411
James

385
Henry

376
William

374
Hudson

323
Theodore

323
Waylon

299
John

297

What this shows Noah leads 2025 boys in Tennessee; James remains the all-time cumulative #1 at rank #51 in 2025.

Mary

106,691
Linda

36,358
Betty

36,333
Elizabeth

34,392
Patricia

29,918
Barbara

29,861
Dorothy

28,522
Margaret

27,099
Jennifer

26,229
Sarah

26,035

What this shows Mary leads Tennessee girls with 106,691 recorded births.

James

175,232
William

121,292
John

97,767
Robert

94,286
Charles

75,555
Michael

74,684
David

69,907
Thomas

47,116
Christopher

45,664
Joseph

35,695

What this shows James leads Tennessee boys with 175,232 recorded births.

Decade-by-Decade Leaders

The #1 boy and girl name in Tennessee for each decade

How we calculated this

For each decade, we sum every year's SSA state-level birth count per name, then take the single name with the highest ten-year total for each sex. A name can lead a decade with a strong single peak year or with steady, moderate demand across all ten years, the total treats both the same way.

Decade	Top Boy	Births	Top Girl	Births
1910s	James	12,970	Mary	13,403
1920s	James	24,120	Mary	22,488
1930s	James	22,985	Mary	19,022
1940s	James	28,265	Mary	18,212
1950s	James	23,968	Mary	12,975
1960s	James	18,377	Lisa	12,072
1970s	James	13,946	Jennifer	10,521
1980s	Christopher	12,277	Jessica	10,775
1990s	Joshua	8,547	Ashley	7,177
2000s	William	7,527	Madison	5,809
2010s	William	5,482	Emma	4,425
2020s	Liam	2,714	Olivia	2,092

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	James	175,232
2	William	121,292
3	John	97,767
4	Robert	94,286
5	Charles	75,555
6	Michael	74,684
7	David	69,907
8	Thomas	47,116
9	Christopher	45,664
10	Joseph	35,695
11	Richard	33,643
12	Joshua	31,891
13	George	28,803
14	Kenneth	28,794
15	Matthew	28,026
16	Jerry	27,985
17	Billy	27,927
18	Larry	27,468
19	Daniel	25,507
20	Timothy	25,292
21	Paul	24,234
22	Donald	23,245
23	Andrew	22,705
24	Bobby	22,192
25	Anthony	21,695
26	Jacob	21,677
27	Samuel	21,631
28	Jason	21,251
29	Mark	20,624
30	Jonathan	20,328
31	Steven	20,256
32	Gary	20,115
33	Joe	19,876
34	Brandon	19,608
35	Edward	19,322
36	Ronald	19,064
37	Justin	17,948
38	Kevin	17,287
39	Terry	17,228
40	Jimmy	17,014
41	Jeffrey	16,410
42	Willie	16,369
43	Brian	16,276
44	Jack	16,133
45	Benjamin	16,039
46	Henry	15,836
47	Stephen	15,716
48	Johnny	15,349
49	Roy	15,278
50	Carl	14,302

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	Mary	106,691
2	Linda	36,358
3	Betty	36,333
4	Elizabeth	34,392
5	Patricia	29,918
6	Barbara	29,861
7	Dorothy	28,522
8	Margaret	27,099
9	Jennifer	26,229
10	Sarah	26,035
11	Brenda	23,394
12	Martha	22,228
13	Jessica	21,399
14	Ashley	20,998
15	Kimberly	20,592
16	Lisa	20,242
17	Carolyn	19,982
18	Anna	19,901
19	Sandra	19,615
20	Rebecca	19,401
21	Emily	19,345
22	Angela	19,334
23	Shirley	19,247
24	Amanda	19,068
25	Emma	18,900
26	Helen	18,832
27	Nancy	18,500
28	Donna	17,774
29	Virginia	17,085
30	Deborah	17,050
31	Ruby	16,550
32	Frances	15,568
33	Melissa	15,417
34	Amy	15,166
35	Karen	14,989
36	Pamela	14,879
37	Teresa	14,840
38	Katherine	14,803
39	Laura	14,690
40	Ruth	14,525
41	Evelyn	14,513
42	Judy	14,448
43	Mildred	14,447
44	Rachel	14,377
45	Sharon	14,323
46	Susan	14,211
47	Wanda	14,008
48	Joyce	13,989
49	Stephanie	13,467
50	Hannah	13,405

Read with Tennessee

Nearest ABS peers for a heavy-registry state (Tennessee · DENSE · TREND-LED).

DENSE TREND-LED

Missouri · DENSE

7,456,004 SSA registrations (near-scale with Tennessee; ABS Δ 332,306). Leader lane may differ from Tennessee's TREND-LED.

Wisconsin · DENSE

6,655,644 SSA registrations (near-scale with Tennessee; ABS Δ 468,054). Leader lane may differ from Tennessee's TREND-LED.

Virginia · DENSE

7,595,197 SSA registrations (near-scale with Tennessee; ABS Δ 471,499). Leader lane may differ from Tennessee's TREND-LED.

Indiana · DENSE

7,926,947 SSA registrations (near-scale with Tennessee; ABS Δ 803,249). Leader lane may differ from Tennessee's TREND-LED.

Massachusetts (volume-lane contrast)

Near Tennessee on SSA registration volume yet stamps HEAVY vs DENSE.

Why names rise and fall

Tennessee stamps DENSE · TREND-LED - read the matching SSA methodology before quoting state leaders.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names, State-Level Files, 1910–2025 (ssa.gov).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications, National Data (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

Read our methodology - heavy-registry states: how cumulative leaders and latest-year splits are computed.

According to the Social Security Administration, as of June 2026 this profile draws directly on the agency's state-level public-use files, which document 6,696,687 state-level records across all 51 reporting jurisdictions spanning 1910-2025.