The Most Popular Baby Names in Missouri

The year famous Town and Country resident (and former St. Louis Cardinal shortstop) Ozzie Smith was born, there were no babies named "Osborne" born in Missouri. In fact, since 1910, there's no record of a baby Osborne being born in Missouri (Smith was born in Mobile, AL).

That little tidbit comes from our searchable database of Missouri baby names from 1910 to 2011. And it's got some limits, so we won't say there's never been an Osborne born in the Show-Me State.

How about this: Marshall's Bistro in Manchester is perhaps one of the newest restaurants to open in the area. How often does the name "Marshall" show up in our database of baby names? Only a few dozen times a year—and not every year. The year with the most baby Marshalls in Missouri was 1922, when 31 were christened with that name.

Curious about what people were named in Missouri? You can use the tools above to search by name, year or gender to explore questions such as:

• How many Missouri babies got my name the year I was born?
• What was the most popular year for my name in Missouri?
• Any babies of the opposite sex get my name?

The data comes from the Social Security Administration, which released baby name data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the same period.

The government excluded names used fewer than five times in a year in order to protect privacy.

The information comes from people who applied for Social Security cards and were born in the United States after 1879. As the SSA notes, "many people born before 1937 never applied for a Social Security card, so their names are not included in our data. For others who did apply, our records may not show the place of birth, and again their names are not included in our data."

So, what did Missouri moms and dads most often dub their babies in 1910, the first year of this database? Well, that would be William and Mary. And 101 years later, in 2011? Happy birthday to Mason and Emma.

(NOTE: Viewing this on a mobile device and can't see the search tools above? Click here instead.)