What's in a (boy's) name?

While helping my coworker log onto our new mapping server for the first time today we came across a map I made back in 2008 when one of my other coworkers was pregnant. It was in a folder titled 'For Fun' which is why she opened it and after seeing it I decided to do an update. I mapped out the top baby names for boys and girls by state for 2007. Five years later I am comparing to see what has changed. For clarity I will do boys and girls in separate posts. For reference the top baby names based on Social Security card applications for 2007 and 2012 were (respectively):

BOYS

1. Jacob, Jacob
2. Michael, Mason
3. Ethan, Ethan
4. Joshua, Noah
5. Daniel, William
6. Christopher, Liam
7. Anthony, Jayden
8. William, Michael
9. Matthew, Alexander
10. Andrew, Aiden

Jacob, Ethan and William are the only hold overs from 2007 in 2012 on that national level.

And now the maps. Please note that if a name was tops on both maps I kept the color the same, otherwise I tried to use different colors. It is a little complicated regardless so I'll makes some points after you take a look. 

The first, most blaringly obvious trend is that William is still holding steady in the south with the exception of Florida. Kentucky joined that group as did Utah although it is geographically separate from the rest. Liam has taken a strong hold in the northwest taking over many of the states whose top name was Jacob or Ethan. Jacob is still holding strong in 4 states, three of which are particularly populous, however the total number has dropped from 15 in 2007. Is Jacob coming close to the end of it's 12 year run? We'll see. Ethan, on the other hand, was only the top name in Hawaii. The name Mason has come on strong over the past 5 years from not being a top name in any state in 2007 to topping 16 states in 2012. Outlier names, as I like to refer to them, are the names that aren't in the top 10 for the country but have a strong hold in one state. They still exist but have changed from Jose, Aiden, Matthew and Angel in 2007 to Benjamin, James and Elijah in 2012. It is interesting to note that Alaska and Massachusetts are both "outlier" states in both years but with different names. Finally I will comment on Florida who was the only state with the 7th ranked name Anthony in 2007 and is again the only state in 2012 with the 7th ranked name Jayden.

If I had more time I could do a better analysis using birth rates by state but for now this paints and interesting enough picture. There is still a decent diversity among the states for top names for boys. Girls are up next!

All data from http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/.