What is the most popular baby name in Virginia?

On a heavy SSA book, Virginia's cumulative #1 boy is James (151,961 births) and #1 girl is Mary (96,705 births) since 1910.

How have baby names changed in Virginia over the decades?

Virginia 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/Charlotte (2020s).

How many babies are named in Virginia?

Our data covers 2,961,091 name registrations in Virginia for the top 50 boys and top 50 girls names (DENSE volume stamp · #14 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 Virginia

The boys' and girls' names most often given in Virginia, 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: 2,961,091
Births recorded: 1910–2025
Years covered

Virginia's all-time #1 names are James for boys and Mary for girls, based on 2,961,091 SSA birth registrations since 1910.

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Virginia has recorded 2,961,091 births across its top 50 boy and top 50 girl names since 1910. James leads all boys with 151,961 births, while Mary tops the girls with 96,705. This profile covers decade-by-decade leaders and the full top-50 rankings for both sexes.

James #1 boy name
Mary #1 girl name
2,961,091 births recorded

Where Virginia sits by recorded name volume

Virginia: 7,595,197 SSA name registrations (DENSE · rank 14/51). Inventory signal only, orthogonal to the top-50 lists below.

Virginia vs all states by SSA name registrations

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

7,595,197 14th of 51 higher than 37 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

Virginia naming snapshot

According to SSA state files through 2025, Mary is #1 of 96,705 cumulative SSA births in Virginia ≠ Charlotte #1 of 1,379 2025 girl names at all-time rank #48; James is #1 of 151,961 cumulative SSA births in Virginia ≠ Liam #1 of 1,253 2025 boy names at all-time rank #51.

Charlotte
2025 girls #1, all-time #48: Mary
all-time girls #1, 2025 #51: Liam
2025 boys #1, all-time #51: James
all-time boys #1, 2025 #6

Both sexes in Virginia 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 Virginia

Virginia sits in the heaviest third of SSA name-state registration totals (7,595,197 · DENSE · #14/51). Cumulative top-50 leaders are James (151,961 boy births) and Mary (96,705 girl births) across 2,961,091 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 1,823,846 vs 1,137,245 for girls.

In Virginia, 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 Virginia 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 Charlotte 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

460
Emma

341
Sophia

319
Olivia

311
Amelia

296
Isabella

293
Evelyn

254
Mia

245
Eleanor

245
Ava

244

What this shows Charlotte leads 2025 girls in Virginia; Mary remains the all-time cumulative #1 at rank #48 in 2025.

Liam

590
Noah

556
Theodore

392
Oliver

390
Henry

372
James

368
William

358
Elijah

314
Lucas

311
John

277

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

Mary

96,705
Elizabeth

46,265
Margaret

32,761
Linda

32,514
Barbara

32,273
Jennifer

31,991
Patricia

31,629
Sarah

31,614
Virginia

29,040
Betty

27,170

What this shows Mary leads Virginia girls with 96,705 recorded births.

James

151,961
William

128,158
John

110,766
Robert

105,359
Michael

91,240
David

78,212
Charles

67,251
Thomas

56,252
Christopher

56,158
Joseph

51,304

What this shows James leads Virginia boys with 151,961 recorded births.

Decade-by-Decade Leaders

The #1 boy and girl name in Virginia 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	11,410	Mary	13,787
1920s	James	18,279	Mary	19,081
1930s	James	16,865	Mary	14,819
1940s	James	22,598	Mary	15,489
1950s	James	22,102	Linda	13,476
1960s	James	18,010	Lisa	11,031
1970s	Michael	15,623	Jennifer	12,496
1980s	Christopher	14,839	Jessica	11,613
1990s	Michael	10,918	Ashley	7,303
2000s	William	7,214	Emily	5,487
2010s	William	5,733	Olivia	4,804
2020s	Liam	3,507	Charlotte	2,715

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	James	151,961
2	William	128,158
3	John	110,766
4	Robert	105,359
5	Michael	91,240
6	David	78,212
7	Charles	67,251
8	Thomas	56,252
9	Christopher	56,158
10	Joseph	51,304
11	Richard	46,992
12	George	38,601
13	Matthew	38,072
14	Daniel	35,657
15	Joshua	31,026
16	Andrew	30,665
17	Kenneth	27,984
18	Edward	26,918
19	Anthony	26,115
20	Kevin	25,889
21	Timothy	25,517
22	Donald	25,507
23	Samuel	24,747
24	Mark	24,552
25	Brian	24,534
26	Paul	24,140
27	Jason	23,278
28	Steven	23,275
29	Jacob	23,018
30	Benjamin	22,752
31	Jonathan	22,248
32	Ronald	21,236
33	Ryan	21,132
34	Larry	20,153
35	Brandon	20,109
36	Jeffrey	19,976
37	Stephen	19,686
38	Henry	19,655
39	Justin	18,989
40	Alexander	17,974
41	Nicholas	17,384
42	Eric	17,308
43	Gary	16,964
44	Walter	16,888
45	Raymond	15,938
46	Jerry	14,817
47	Gregory	14,759
48	Zachary	14,508
49	Noah	14,188
50	Frank	14,034

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	Mary	96,705
2	Elizabeth	46,265
3	Margaret	32,761
4	Linda	32,514
5	Barbara	32,273
6	Jennifer	31,991
7	Patricia	31,629
8	Sarah	31,614
9	Virginia	29,040
10	Betty	27,170
11	Dorothy	27,160
12	Jessica	24,475
13	Nancy	23,410
14	Emily	22,901
15	Ashley	22,714
16	Rebecca	21,900
17	Brenda	21,424
18	Shirley	21,241
19	Kimberly	21,175
20	Helen	21,076
21	Susan	20,775
22	Deborah	20,275
23	Katherine	20,267
24	Lisa	19,850
25	Sandra	19,522
26	Frances	19,426
27	Emma	18,974
28	Karen	18,856
29	Amanda	18,628
30	Carolyn	17,838
31	Ruth	17,618
32	Angela	17,581
33	Laura	17,391
34	Catherine	17,324
35	Donna	17,249
36	Cynthia	16,988
37	Evelyn	16,932
38	Melissa	16,771
39	Anna	16,567
40	Sharon	16,535
41	Stephanie	16,457
42	Joyce	16,119
43	Amy	15,620
44	Michelle	15,504
45	Rachel	15,244
46	Alice	14,945
47	Martha	14,851
48	Charlotte	14,578
49	Pamela	14,574
50	Olivia	14,548

Read with Virginia

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

DENSE TREND-LED

Missouri · DENSE

7,456,004 SSA registrations (near-scale with Virginia; ABS Δ 139,193). Leader lane may differ from Virginia's TREND-LED.

Indiana · DENSE

7,926,947 SSA registrations (near-scale with Virginia; ABS Δ 331,750). Leader lane may differ from Virginia's TREND-LED.

Tennessee · DENSE

7,123,698 SSA registrations (near-scale with Virginia; ABS Δ 471,499). Leader lane may differ from Virginia's TREND-LED.

Massachusetts · HEAVY

8,213,855 SSA registrations (near-scale with Virginia; ABS Δ 618,658). Leader lane may differ from Virginia's TREND-LED.

Why names rise and fall

Virginia 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.