The Most Popular Baby Names in Wisconsin

The year that Wauwatosa resident and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was born, he was among about 1,100 Scotts born in the Badger State. In fact, it was the fifth most popular boy’s name that year – 1967. The most popular name that year was Michael. By 2011, by the way, only 11 babies were named Scott.

And what about former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre? In the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the QB started playing for the Green and Gold, about 110 babies each year were named Brett.

But in 1996 and 1997, when Favre was in the middle of his MVP run, that figure nearly doubled as more than 200 babies were named Brett each year.

And in 2009, the first year that Favre suited up the for the hated Minnesota Vikings? Only 24 Bretts were born in Wisconsin.

Those little tidbits come from Patch’s searchable database of Wisconsin baby names from 1910 to 2011. Curious about what people were named in Wisconsin? You can use the tools above to search by name, year or gender to explore questions such as:

• How many Wisconsin babies got my name the year I was born?
• What was the most popular year for my name?
• How many Wisconsin babies got my name the year I was born?
• What was the most popular year for my name in Wisconsin?
• Did 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 Wisconsin moms and dads most often dub their babies in 1910, the first year of this database? Well, that would be John and Mary.

And 101 years later, in 2011? Mason and Sophia were at the top of the list.