Of all the individual State Health Departments in the U.S. that compile baby names and make them available online, I have to give major points to Oregon State’s Health Department.
If you check out their website, you’ll find that they provide a complete list of birth names for each year going back to 1961.
This is especially helpful for those looking for rare and unusual names. Because (as I’m sure you already know) many government websites won’t list names of less than 10 occurrences for any particular year.
The Oregon site also offers an “Occurrence Counts” chart, whereby you can compare the popularity of any particular name through the years 1961 to 2008. To access the complete list and Occurrence Counts chart, go here:
Then, in the box on the left, where it says “Find Names Starting with,” type in a letter of the alphabet and hit “Go.” You’ll be taken to the page that has every name of every baby (male or female, depending on your selection) born in the State of Oregon from 1961 through 2008.
Another government website I’ve found offering complete annual lists of birth names is the government of [name]Alberta[/name] in [name]Canada[/name]:
Now, don’t we all just wish that the U.S. Social Security Administration would extend their annual Top 1,000 names lists at least to the Top 10,000?
SIGH. Yes, [name]Nephele[/name], that would be great. But just be thankful you don’t live in the United Kingdom, where it is much worse, and if you ring the Office of National Statistics and ask about names, they assume you are mad and/or pregnant. They have just published the stats for 2008 (only nine months late!!) and they only give you the top HUNDRED! [name]How[/name] bad is that!
About nine years ago the U.S. Social Security Administration used to release annual names lists that approached the top 20,000. Polite requests for these lists now fall upon deaf ears. I’ve been wondering whether any of my fellow names enthusiasts here in the U.S. might want to join me in a mass [name]Freedom[/name] of Information Act request mailing for the SSA to release the larger lists again. Or, at the very least, to increase their website listing from the annual top 1,000 to the annual top 10,000.