What are the most common names of St. Cloud State students?
– John, Admissions office
Table 1
Each spring, a number of organizations announce the most popular baby names from the prior year. For example, in January the Minnesota Department of Health released the most popular baby names in Minnesota. Typically in March, the Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes the most popular baby names in the United States from the prior year. It’s always interesting seeing where your own name is on the list. Brent was the 841st most popular male name in 2014 according to the SSA, but somehow Brentley was the 635th most popular name.
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Similar to “popular baby names in the U.S.” we can publish “popular student names at St. Cloud State.” I thought it would be interesting to see what names are popular and how that has changed over time.
To see changes over time, I’ll compare the 2015-16 academic year to the 1999-2000 academic year. As shown in Table 1, the most popular names of the 2015-16 academic year are likely no surprise. Since the 1999-00 academic year, there has been little change in the top 25 names. However, if we dig a little deeper and look at the names that gained and lost popularity over the past 16 years, we see some interesting results.
One of the most popular names this year is Taylor (#9). However, that hasn’t always been the case. As you can see in Table 2, in 1999-00 there were only four Taylors enrolled at St. Cloud State, but this year there are 137 (107 females, 30 males). Table 2 and Table 3 display the largest increases and decreases, respectively. The name Ashley has seen the most growth by going from 8 students in 1999-00 to 144 currently. Although Jennifer remains a popular name, it is far less common today than 16 years ago. Today there are 238 fewer Jennifers compared to 1999-00.
Table 2
Table 3
We can also look at which names have appeared and disappeared over the past 16 years (Tables 4 and 5). In 1999-00, there was not a single student named Madison, but today there are 71. Conversely, the name Jody no longer exists by going from 24 students 16 years ago to zero today.
Table 4
Table 5
Although the top 25 has remained relatively intact over the past 15 years, the number of students with those names has decreased with Jennifer and Michael being prime examples. This has led to many more unique names. In 1999-00, there were 2,892 unique student first names, but in 2015-16 that number increased to 4,721 first names! Does this mean the job of St. Cloud State’s faculty has gotten easier or more difficult? On one hand, faculty now have to remember more names, but on the other hand, at least faculty no longer have to distinguish between four Jennifers in one class.
If you need help naming your next child please contact the Office of Strategy, Planning and Effectiveness.
About the data scientist: Brent Donnay is the director of analytics and business intelligence in the Office of Strategy, Planning and Effectiveness at St. Cloud State University.
