What baby names are unique to New Mexico?

Josefita is the name most distinctive to New Mexico, given about 108 times more often there than in the United States as a whole. Tranette, Gregorita and Delfinia follow.

How is a distinctive name measured?

Each name's share of births in New Mexico is compared with its share nationally. The multiplier shown is the conservative low end of that ratio, so a name carried by a handful of births cannot outrank one carried by hundreds.

Name Legacy

Names unique to New Mexico

The most distinctive New Mexico baby names, 1910–2025

These are the names given far more often in New Mexico than anywhere else in the country, across the whole record from 1910 to 2025. Josefita leads: it is given about 108× more often here than across the United States as a whole.

The multiplier compares each name's share of New Mexico births with its share nationally, and reports the conservative low end of that comparison — so a name carried by a handful of births cannot outrank one carried by hundreds.

Across the whole record, 1910–2025

#	Name	Births	vs national
1	Josefita	97	108×
2	Tranette	13	71×
3	Gregorita	13	67×
4	Delfinia	20	65×
5	Fedelina	24	64×
6	Pita	27	63×
7	Feloniz	8	62×
8	Manuelita	279	60×
9	Petrita	31	59×
10	Filadelfio	18	55×
11	Deluvina	11	54×
12	Ramoncita	6	41×
13	Pablita	16	40×
14	Rafaelita	21	39×
15	Eufelia	19	39×
16	Lugarda	16	38×
17	Female	250	34×
18	Clorinda	241	34×
19	Yalexa	33	30×
20	Bernardita	7	28×
21	Erminda	10	28×
22	Telesfor	10	28×
23	Eloy	1,166	27×
24	Male	226	26×
25	Conferina	5	25×
26	Felipita	5	25×
27	Ignacita	5	25×
28	Lugardita	5	25×
29	Orlidia	5	25×
30	Merlinda	83	25×
31	Erlinda	611	25×
32	Prescilla	141	23×
33	Sinforosa	5	21×
34	Mela	121	20×
35	Procopio	10	20×
36	Kee	158	19×
37	Estevan	864	18×
38	Nizhoni	91	18×
39	Tomasita	76	13×
40	Eloisa	485	13×

Right now, in 2025

A different list from the one above, and not a contradiction: these are the names distinctive to New Mexico in a single recent year rather than across the whole record.

Name	Births	vs national
Zia	8	7×
Hiram	6	6×
Amariah	9	5×
Amaris	13	4×
Ramon	10	4×
Araceli	11	4×
Santos	10	3×
Ariah	12	3×
Azariah	22	3×
Andres	32	3×

Decade by decade

The single most distinctive name of each decade.

Decade	Name	vs national
1910s	Manuelita	179×
1920s	Josefita	170×
1930s	Mela	119×
1940s	Prescilla	82×
1950s	Prescilla	34×
1960s	Merlinda	22×
1970s	Philbert	13×
1980s	Tranette	59×
1990s	Estevan	18×
2000s	Nizhoni	27×
2010s	Female	185×
2020s	Estevan	21×

Explore further

See New Mexico on the interactive map

Names unique to other states

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. State records begin in 1910. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state in a year are withheld at source. namelegacy.org