See Also
A | Letter, History, Meaning & UsesNumerology of Letter A : Decoding the Hidden MeaningsLetter “M” Logos: Order & BalanceWhat does your name’s first letter meanby Dean Talbot
Our analysis of new baby names in 2022 (US) shows that certain letters feature much more commonly at the beginning and end of first names than others. In addition, trends have been shown to differ between boys’ names and girls’ names.
To find more words in the English language, we also have a number of lists and tools that can help you when playing a range of word games.
Most common first letters in first names
First letters in all first names
- The letter “A” is the most common first letter, present in 13.35% of all first names.
- The second-most common first letter is “M”, in 8.21% of all first names.
- “J” is the third-most common, in 7.96% of all first names.
- The letter “U” is the most uncommon first letter, which starts just 0.10% of all first names.
First letters in boys’ first names
- For boys, “J” is the most common first letter, present in 11.30% of first names.
- “A” is the second-most common first letter (10.45% of first names) and “L” is the third-most common (7.64% of first names).
- The letter “U” is the least common, starting only 0.15% of boys’ names.
First letters in girls’ first names
- For girls, “A” is most common, starting 16.44% of first names.
- This is followed by the letters “E” (9.47%) and “M” (9.03%).
- The letter “U” proves to be the most unpopular first letter for girls’ names (0.04%).
| First letter | Boys names (%) | Boys names rank | Girls names (%) | Girls names rank | Total names (%) | Total rank |
| A | 10.45% | #2 | 16.44% | #1 | 13.35% | #1 |
| B | 4.75% | #9 | 2.93% | #12 | 3.87% | #10 |
| C | 7.01% | #5 | 5.61% | #6 | 6.33% | #6 |
| D | 4.85% | #8 | 2.55% | #14 | 3.74% | #11 |
| E | 6.34% | #6 | 9.47% | #2 | 7.86% | #4 |
| F | 1.19% | #21 | 1.04% | #21 | 1.12% | #22 |
| G | 2.97% | #14 | 2.55% | #15 | 2.77% | #14 |
| H | 2.89% | #16 | 3.38% | #11 | 3.13% | #13 |
| I | 1.87% | #18 | 2.83% | #13 | 2.33% | #16 |
| J | 11.30% | #1 | 4.40% | #9 | 7.96% | #3 |
| K | 5.47% | #7 | 5.31% | #7 | 5.39% | #8 |
| L | 7.64% | #3 | 7.25% | #5 | 7.45% | #5 |
| M | 7.44% | #4 | 9.03% | #3 | 8.21% | #2 |
| N | 3.24% | #13 | 3.65% | #10 | 3.44% | #12 |
| O | 2.34% | #17 | 1.88% | #18 | 2.12% | #17 |
| P | 1.33% | #20 | 2.25% | #16 | 1.78% | #19 |
| Q | 0.17% | #25 | 0.25% | #25 | 0.21% | #25 |
| R | 4.74% | #10 | 4.56% | #8 | 4.65% | #9 |
| S | 4.25% | #11 | 7.33% | #4 | 5.74% | #7 |
| T | 3.53% | #12 | 1.44% | #20 | 2.52% | #15 |
| U | 0.15% | #26 | 0.04% | #26 | 0.10% | #26 |
| V | 0.65% | #22 | 2.14% | #17 | 1.37% | #21 |
| W | 2.91% | #15 | 0.99% | #22 | 1.98% | #18 |
| X | 0.41% | #24 | 0.31% | #24 | 0.36% | #24 |
| Y | 0.52% | #23 | 0.56% | #23 | 0.54% | #23 |
| Z | 1.59% | #19 | 1.82% | #19 | 1.70% | #20 |
A graph is given below to show the 5 most common first letters for all first names:
Most common last letters in first names
Last letters in all first names
- The letter “N” is the most common last letter, present in 20.50% of all first names.
- “A” is the second-most common last letter, present in 19.73% of all first names.
- “E” follows as the third-most common last letter, in 12.13% of all first names.
- The most uncommon last letter is “Q”, present in 0.01% of all first names.
Last letters in boys’ first names
- For boys, the letter “N” is the most common last letter, present in 29.70% of boys’ first names.
- The second-most common last letter is “R”, present in 9.58% of boys’ first names.
- “S” ranks as the third-most common last letter, in 8.00% of boys’ first names.
- “Q” is the most uncommon last letter, in just 0.02% of boys’ first names.
Last letters in girls’ first names
- For girls, “A” is the most common last letter (present in 38.28% of names).
- “E” ranks second, present in 17.70% of girls’ first names.
- The third-most common letter is “Y”, in 10.85% of girls’ first names.
- The letter “Q” is the most uncommon last letter, present in 0.00% of girls’ first names.
| Last letter | Boys names (%) | Boys names rank | Girls names (%) | Girls names rank | Total names (%) | Total rank |
| A | 2.30% | #12 | 38.28% | #1 | 19.73% | #2 |
| B | 0.94% | #16 | 0.04% | #21 | 0.50% | #17 |
| C | 0.89% | #18 | 0.05% | #18 | 0.48% | #18 |
| D | 2.26% | #13 | 0.26% | #14 | 1.29% | #13 |
| E | 6.89% | #5 | 17.70% | #2 | 12.13% | #3 |
| F | 0.16% | #23 | 0.01% | #23 | 0.09% | #23 |
| G | 0.22% | #20 | 0.04% | #19 | 0.14% | #21 |
| H | 5.29% | #7 | 6.62% | #5 | 5.93% | #6 |
| I | 3.58% | #9 | 5.35% | #6 | 4.44% | #8 |
| J | 0.07% | #25 | 0.01% | #25 | 0.04% | #25 |
| K | 2.03% | #14 | 0.04% | #20 | 1.07% | #14 |
| L | 6.60% | #6 | 2.09% | #8 | 4.42% | #9 |
| M | 3.37% | #10 | 0.50% | #11 | 1.98% | #12 |
| N | 29.70% | #1 | 10.70% | #4 | 20.50% | #1 |
| O | 6.97% | #4 | 0.27% | #13 | 3.72% | #10 |
| P | 0.16% | #24 | 0.01% | #24 | 0.09% | #24 |
| Q | 0.02% | #26 | 0.00% | #26 | 0.01% | #26 |
| R | 9.58% | #2 | 3.41% | #7 | 6.59% | #5 |
| S | 8.00% | #3 | 1.26% | #10 | 4.73% | #7 |
| T | 3.32% | #11 | 1.63% | #9 | 2.50% | #11 |
| U | 0.39% | #19 | 0.08% | #16 | 0.24% | #19 |
| V | 0.18% | #22 | 0.03% | #22 | 0.11% | #22 |
| W | 0.90% | #17 | 0.48% | #12 | 0.70% | #16 |
| X | 1.23% | #15 | 0.21% | #15 | 0.73% | #15 |
| Y | 4.75% | #8 | 10.85% | #3 | 7.70% | #4 |
| Z | 0.20% | #21 | 0.07% | #17 | 0.14% | #20 |
A graph is given below to show the 5 most common last letters for all first names:
Number of letters in first names
In addition to showing trends within the letters themselves, our analysis shows that names of certain lengths also prove to be more popular than others.
Number of letters in all first names
- The most common length for all first names is 6 letters.
- The second-most common first name length is 5 letters.
- A length of 7 letters is the third-most common for all first names.
Number of letters in boys’ first names
- When it comes to boys’ names, the most common length for a first name is 6 letters.
- The second-most common length for a boy’s first name is 5 letters.
- 4 letter first names rank as the the third-most common length.
Number of letters in girls’ first names
- For girls, the most common length for a girl’s first name is 6 letters.
- The second-most common length is 5 letters.
- 7 letter first names for girls rank third.
| Number of letters in first name | Boys names (%) | Boys names rank | Girls names (%) | Girls names rank | Total names (%) | Total rank |
| 2 | 0.10% | #10 | 0.02% | #10 | 0.06% | #10 |
| 3 | 3.02% | #6 | 3.58% | #7 | 3.29% | #7 |
| 4 | 16.99% | #3 | 13.95% | #4 | 15.52% | #4 |
| 5 | 26.13% | #2 | 21.56% | #2 | 23.92% | #2 |
| 6 | 29.39% | #1 | 28.53% | #1 | 28.97% | #1 |
| 7 | 15.09% | #4 | 18.82% | #3 | 16.89% | #3 |
| 8 | 6.19% | #5 | 8.68% | #5 | 7.40% | #5 |
| 9 | 2.40% | #7 | 4.34% | #6 | 3.34% | #6 |
| 10 | 0.22% | #9 | 0.48% | #8 | 0.34% | #8 |
| 11 | 0.45% | #8 | 0.02% | #9 | 0.24% | #9 |
| 12 | 0.02% | #11 | 0.01% | #12 | 0.01% | #11 |
| 13 | 0.01% | #12 | 0.01% | #11 | 0.01% | #12 |
| 14 | 0.00% | #13 | 0.00% | #13 | 0.00% | #13 |
| 15 | 0.00% | #14 | 0.00% | #14 | 0.00% | #14 |
A graph is given below to compare first name lengths by their frequency:
Most common initials
- Based on our study of US new baby first names in 2022, in order from most to least common, the top 5 letters to begin a first name are “A”, “M”, “J”, “E” and “L”.
- US Census results from 2010 revealed that in order from most to least common, the top 5 letters to begin a surname are “M”, “S”, “B”, “C” and “H”.
- The top 5 most common starting letters for a surname had not changed since a previous census in 2000, a trend that can be expected to have carried forward.
- Due to this, combinations of the top 5 first letters for both first names and surnames could be expected to provide some of the most common initials in the US.
