Search the Most Popular Baby Names in Missouri

University City incorporated to become a city in 1906 and E.G. Lewis, publisher of Womans’ Magazine and the Woman’s Farm Journal served as the city's first mayor.

According to the Missouri Database of baby names, there were 16 babies named Lewis born in the state in 1910, the first year of the database.

What about some of University City's other famous sons and daughters?

In 1974, the year Cornell "Nelly" Haynes was born, there were no other boys born with that name. Talk about one of a kind. The most popular year for Cornells in Missouri was 1962, when 18 were born. 

Chuck Berry, the musical icon who plays monthly at Blueberry Hill, was born in 1926. There were 1,054 boys named Charles that year—and five girls as well.

In 1972, when Joe Edwards opened Blueberry Hill in the Delmar Loop, there were 44 Joes, 22 Joeys and 453 Josephs born. There have been several Delmars born in the state, mostly in the 1920s and 1930s.

The most popular year for Shelleys, like University City Mayor Shelley Welsch, was 1962. There were 91 Shelleys born in Missouri that year.  

Those tidbits come from our searchable database of Missouri baby names from 1910 to 2011. 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.

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