What baby names are unique to Wisconsin?

Vilas is the name most distinctive to Wisconsin, given about 20 times more often there than in the United States as a whole. Unnamed, Arlyle and Pa follow.

How is a distinctive name measured?

Each name's share of births in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin

The most distinctive Wisconsin baby names, 1910–2025

These are the names given far more often in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the country, across the whole record from 1910 to 2025. Vilas leads: it is given about 20× more often here than across the United States as a whole.

The multiplier compares each name's share of Wisconsin 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	Vilas	212	20×
2	Unnamed	158	11×
3	Arlyle	17	11×
4	Pa	268	10×
5	Alois	454	9×
6	Duwayne	630	9×
7	Tou	227	9×
8	Norbert	3,016	8×
9	Kong	152	8×
10	Gerhardt	138	7×
11	Timm	99	7×
12	Ka	132	7×
13	Kou	104	6×
14	Ione	1,024	6×
15	Hildegarde	233	6×
16	Elroy	869	6×
17	Breleigh	55	6×
18	Pang	82	6×
19	Leone	577	6×
20	Ewald	103	6×
21	Shouana	6	5×
22	Florian	391	5×
23	Eldor	49	5×
24	Merlin	1,493	5×
25	Croix	129	5×
26	Julaine	79	5×
27	Cashton	288	5×
28	Meng	61	4×
29	Harland	475	4×
30	Erna	567	4×
31	Barb	319	4×
32	Arvilla	197	4×
33	Laverne	4,062	4×
34	Yuepheng	11	4×
35	Gerhard	184	4×
36	Hilbert	161	4×
37	Verona	294	4×
38	Hildegard	132	4×
39	Eleanore	1,273	4×
40	Eloda	10	4×

Right now, in 2025

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

Name	Births	vs national
Croix	18	20×
Buckley	6	13×
Eveline	5	8×
Laverda	5	8×
Leopold	10	8×
Jordy	17	6×
Charlette	7	5×
Myron	10	5×
Percival	10	5×
Mervin	9	5×

Decade by decade

The single most distinctive name of each decade.

Decade	Name	vs national
1910s	Vilas	16×
1920s	Vilas	19×
1930s	Vilas	13×
1940s	Duwayne	11×
1950s	Julaine	7×
1960s	Timm	11×
1970s	Kurt	4×
1980s	Unnamed	39×
1990s	Pa	14×
2000s	Breleigh	11×
2010s	Cashton	8×
2020s	Croix	9×

Explore further

See Wisconsin 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