the US census bureau released first-name-by-race tabulations for the first time in April 2026. While the most concentrated names in the Black community are distinctive, like Latoya and Jermaine, the most common names among living Black Americans are James, Michael, Robert, and John– just a reshuffling of White Americans' top names (Michael, John, James, Robert).
by aar0nbecker
3 Comments
source: [census 2020 first names and last names data](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2020-census-names-data.html)
tools: polars and python for processing; Svelte, SvelteKit, and d3 for the frontend.
blog post with sortable/searchable table, plus links to posts for other 5 ethnic communities in the census data: [https://nameplay.org/blog/black-american-names](https://nameplay.org/blog/black-american-names)
Willie, Roderick, Maurice? Sounds crazy white.
And white Americans are quickly moving to Brayden, Hayden, Kayden, and Smaden.