Top Baby Names in North Carolina

By the Baby Name Data Editorial Team · Last updated: October 2026

State rankings show the geography inside the national story. In 2024, the Social Security Administration's state file records 96,987 births in North Carolina across both sexes at the five-birth release threshold. The state's leading girls' name was Olivia with 469 births, and its leading boys' name was Liam with 745 births. Nationally that same year, Olivia ranked 1 among girls and Liam ranked 1 among boys, so this page lets you see immediately whether North Carolina simply mirrored the country in 2024 or put its own names at the top of its own tables. The top 25 for each sex is shown in full below, exactly as counted in the state file, with no names merged, estimated, or carried over from the national table.

North Carolina over the longer run

A single year can be noisy in a state table, especially below the top few places, so this site also sums the most recent fifteen complete years in the file. Across 2010 to 2024, the most recorded girls' name in North Carolina was Emma with 8,179 births, and the most recorded boys' name was William with 9,595 births. Comparing those fifteen-year leaders with the 2024 leaders above shows whether the state's current favourites are long-standing fixtures or recent arrivals that have only just reached the top. Where the same name leads both views, the state has been stable; where they differ, the annual movement inside the fifteen-year window is doing real work and the national name pages linked from this site show the same transition at country level.

For a longer contrast, the state file's 1980 leaders in North Carolina were Jennifer for girls, with 1,356 births, and Christopher for boys, with 1,380 births. Set beside the 2024 table, that pairing captures how completely the top of the naming order can turn over in two generations, even within a single state whose total birth count has changed far less dramatically than its tastes have. It also underlines why this site reports counts alongside ranks: the 1980 leaders earned their places in a smaller or larger state birth population than the 2024 leaders did, and the raw counts keep that difference visible instead of hiding it behind rank alone.

State files follow the same rules as the national file: counts come from Social Security card applications tabulated by state and year of birth, each sex is ranked separately, spelling is literal, and any name recorded fewer than five times in a state, year, and sex is withheld rather than published as a small count. That threshold bites harder at state level, because a name that is comfortably visible nationally can fall below five in a smaller state in the same year. Other state tables are listed on the states index, national tables on the years index, and the full 2024 national ranking is on the 2024 year page.

Frequently asked questions

What was the most popular baby name in North Carolina in 2024?
In North Carolina in 2024, Olivia led girls with 469 births and Liam led boys with 745 births, in SSA state records.

How does North Carolina compare with the national rankings for 2024?
Nationally in 2024, Olivia ranked 1 among girls and Liam ranked 1 among boys, while both led their tables inside North Carolina.

Which names led North Carolina across 2010 to 2024?
Summed over 2010 to 2024, Emma recorded the most girl births in North Carolina (8,179) and William the most boy births (9,595).

Disclaimer: Baby Name Data publishes statistics drawn from U.S. Social Security Administration baby name records. Figures are counts of Social Security card applications by year of birth and are shown for general information only. Counts below five in any year, sex, or state are not released by the SSA and are not estimated here. Nothing on this page is advice about what to name a child.

Data: U.S. Social Security Administration baby name records, 1880–2024, retrieved October 2026. Source: ssa.gov/oact/babynames/