This Is Now The Most Popular First Name In Minnesota

Last week on our radio show, we gave a shoutout to a couple from Winona, Stephen and Barbara Slaggie, who donated a ton of money to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Later that day, our boss decided to do an aircheck (pulling the audio and critiquing the show). He really focused on that segment and went off on a tangent about the woman's name. He joked that Minnesota must have the most Barbaras in the world because he's lived all over and knows more Barbs here than anywhere else.

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I don’t remember anything else that was said during that meeting because I couldn't stop thinking about Barbaras—like Barbie, Barbara Walters, and Barbra Streisand, none of whom are from Minnesota.

So, does Minnesota have the most women named Barbara? I did some digging to see how popular that name is in our state and to find what the most common first name here is.

According to mynamestats.com, Barbara is the 10th most popular first name in the U.S., with more people named Barbara in California (194,539) than in any other state. In Minnesota, there are only 34,962 Barbaras.

Trending Baby Names in 2024:

Earlier this year we reported on Minnesota's most popular baby names of 2024. (Barbara didn’t make the list.) The most popular girl names were Charlotte, Olivia, and Evelyn in that order, and Theodore, Henry, and Oliver for boys.

What Is The Most Common First Name in Minnesota?

As for first names in Minnesota, the most popular are pretty traditional. John is the most common name for men, followed by Michael. For women, Mary is the most popular, with Susan coming in second.