Should you use an American name or use your own?
What’s in a name? Should you use an American name or use your own?
I am firm believer that you shouldn’t have to change your name to an American one when you come to the United States if you don’t want to. Many people here have ethnic names, so using the one your parents gave you will be just fine. Our president for example is Barack Obama!
Just yesterday, I attended a conference where a Chinese student explained why she uses an American name. She said that people in United States have trouble pronouncing her Chinese name correctly, so she prefers to have people call her by her American name. This makes sense, because the first phoneme in her name is not part of the American repertoire. However, if you don’t mind a little mispronunciation of your given name, go right ahead and introduce yourself as your real name….Americans will embrace you either way!
If you still want to use an American name, then you may find this information useful
Students from various foreign countries choose American names for many reasons. One reason, may be pronunciation, but others include wanting to fit in more easily, the desire to create a more ‘American’ identity, or wanting to make it easier for new friends and teachers to pronounce.
If you want to choose an authentic U.S. name, choose a name from the 100 most popular names for your birth year by using this link
Or – choose one from this list of all-time most popular names:
- Top 100 Female names in the United States
- Top 100 Male names in the United States
1. Top 100 Female names in the United States
Name | % Frequency | Approx Number | Rank |
2.629 | 3,991,060 | 1 | |
1.073 | 1,628,911 | 2 | |
1.035 | 1,571,224 | 3 | |
0.98 | 1,487,729 | 4 | |
0.937 | 1,422,451 | 5 | |
0.932 | 1,414,861 | 6 | |
0.828 | 1,256,979 | 7 | |
0.794 | 1,205,364 | 8 | |
0.768 | 1,165,894 | 9 | |
0.727 | 1,103,652 | 10 | |
0.704 | 1,068,736 | 11 | |
0.669 | 1,015,603 | 12 | |
0.667 | 1,012,567 | 13 | |
0.666 | 1,011,048 | 14 | |
0.663 | 1,006,494 | 15 | |
0.629 | 954,879 | 16 | |
0.583 | 885,047 | 17 | |
0.565 | 857,721 | 18 | |
0.562 | 853,167 | 19 | |
0.522 | 792,443 | 20 | |
0.519 | 787,889 | 21 | |
0.51 | 774,226 | 22 | |
0.508 | 771,190 | 23 | |
0.504 | 765,118 | 24 | |
0.494 | 749,937 | 25 | |
0.49 | 743,864 | 26 | |
0.482 | 731,720 | 27 | |
0.469 | 711,985 | 28 | |
0.468 | 710,466 | 29 | |
0.462 | 701,358 | 30 | |
0.455 | 690,731 | 31 | |
0.451 | 684,659 | 32 | |
0.44 | 667,960 | 33 | |
0.43 | 652,779 | 34 | |
0.43 | 652,779 | 35 | |
0.424 | 643,670 | 36 | |
0.416 | 631,526 | 37 | |
0.412 | 625,453 | 38 | |
0.408 | 619,381 | 39 | |
0.404 | 613,309 | 40 | |
0.4 | 607,236 | 41 | |
0.385 | 584,465 | 42 | |
0.382 | 579,911 | 43 | |
0.379 | 575,356 | 44 | |
0.379 | 575,356 | 45 | |
0.373 | 566,248 | 46 | |
0.37 | 561,694 | 47 | |
0.364 | 552,585 | 48 | |
0.364 | 552,585 | 49 | |
0.359 | 544,995 | 50 | |
0.357 | 541,958 | 51 | |
0.348 | 528,296 | 52 | |
0.337 | 511,597 | 53 | |
0.336 | 510,078 | 54 | |
0.335 | 508,560 | 55 | |
0.335 | 508,560 | 56 | |
0.322 | 488,825 | 57 | |
0.315 | 478,199 | 58 | |
0.315 | 478,199 | 59 | |
0.313 | 475,162 | 60 | |
0.313 | 475,162 | 61 | |
0.306 | 464,536 | 62 | |
0.303 | 459,981 | 63 | |
0.297 | 450,873 | 64 | |
0.296 | 449,355 | 65 | |
0.285 | 432,656 | 66 | |
0.283 | 429,620 | 67 | |
0.281 | 426,583 | 68 | |
0.276 | 418,993 | 69 | |
0.275 | 417,475 | 70 | |
0.272 | 412,921 | 71 | |
0.271 | 411,403 | 72 | |
0.267 | 405,330 | 73 | |
0.264 | 400,776 | 74 | |
0.259 | 393,185 | 75 | |
0.252 | 382,559 | 76 | |
0.25 | 379,523 | 77 | |
0.248 | 376,486 | 78 | |
0.242 | 367,378 | 79 | |
0.241 | 365,860 | 80 | |
0.236 | 358,269 | 81 | |
0.234 | 355,233 | 82 | |
0.229 | 347,643 | 83 | |
0.229 | 347,643 | 84 | |
0.228 | 346,125 | 85 | |
0.228 | 346,125 | 86 | |
0.226 | 343,089 | 87 | |
0.223 | 338,534 | 88 | |
0.223 | 338,534 | 89 | |
0.221 | 335,498 | 90 | |
0.22 | 333,980 | 91 | |
0.22 | 333,980 | 92 | |
0.219 | 332,462 | 93 | |
0.218 | 330,944 | 94 | |
0.217 | 329,426 | 95 | |
0.216 | 327,908 | 96 | |
0.216 | 327,908 | 97 | |
0.211 | 320,317 | 98 | |
0.208 | 315,763 | 99 | |
0.208 | 315,763 | 100 |
2. Top 100 Male Names in the United States
Name | % Frequency | Approx Number | Rank |
3.318 | 4,840,833 | 1 | |
3.271 | 4,772,262 | 2 | |
3.143 | 4,585,515 | 3 | |
2.629 | 3,835,609 | 4 | |
2.451 | 3,575,914 | 5 | |
2.363 | 3,447,525 | 6 | |
1.703 | 2,484,611 | 7 | |
1.523 | 2,221,998 | 8 | |
1.404 | 2,048,382 | 9 | |
1.38 | 2,013,366 | 10 | |
1.035 | 1,510,025 | 11 | |
0.974 | 1,421,028 | 12 | |
0.948 | 1,383,095 | 13 | |
0.938 | 1,368,506 | 14 | |
0.931 | 1,358,293 | 15 | |
0.927 | 1,352,457 | 16 | |
0.826 | 1,205,102 | 17 | |
0.78 | 1,137,990 | 18 | |
0.779 | 1,136,531 | 19 | |
0.736 | 1,073,795 | 20 | |
0.725 | 1,057,747 | 21 | |
0.721 | 1,051,911 | 22 | |
0.671 | 978,963 | 23 | |
0.66 | 962,914 | 24 | |
0.657 | 958,538 | 25 | |
0.65 | 948,325 | 26 | |
0.64 | 933,735 | 27 | |
0.613 | 894,343 | 28 | |
0.598 | 872,459 | 29 | |
0.591 | 862,246 | 30 | |
0.581 | 847,656 | 31 | |
0.546 | 796,593 | 32 | |
0.544 | 793,675 | 33 | |
0.54 | 787,839 | 34 | |
0.537 | 783,462 | 35 | |
0.488 | 711,973 | 36 | |
0.441 | 643,402 | 37 | |
0.435 | 634,648 | 38 | |
0.432 | 630,271 | 39 | |
0.415 | 605,469 | 40 | |
0.399 | 582,126 | 41 | |
0.389 | 567,536 | 42 | |
0.381 | 555,864 | 43 | |
0.371 | 541,275 | 44 | |
0.367 | 535,439 | 45 | |
0.365 | 532,521 | 46 | |
0.346 | 504,801 | 47 | |
0.335 | 488,752 | 48 | |
0.328 | 478,539 | 49 | |
0.322 | 469,786 | 50 | |
0.321 | 468,327 | 51 | |
0.316 | 461,032 | 52 | |
0.315 | 459,573 | 53 | |
0.314 | 458,114 | 54 | |
0.313 | 456,655 | 55 | |
0.311 | 453,737 | 56 | |
0.311 | 453,737 | 57 | |
0.309 | 450,819 | 58 | |
0.308 | 449,360 | 59 | |
0.306 | 446,442 | 60 | |
0.302 | 440,606 | 61 | |
0.282 | 411,427 | 62 | |
0.282 | 411,427 | 63 | |
0.275 | 401,214 | 64 | |
0.273 | 398,296 | 65 | |
0.27 | 393,920 | 66 | |
0.263 | 383,707 | 67 | |
0.26 | 379,330 | 68 | |
0.259 | 377,871 | 69 | |
0.251 | 366,199 | 70 | |
0.251 | 366,199 | 71 | |
0.249 | 363,281 | 72 | |
0.248 | 361,822 | 73 | |
0.246 | 358,904 | 74 | |
0.243 | 354,528 | 75 | |
0.242 | 353,069 | 76 | |
0.24 | 350,151 | 77 | |
0.232 | 338,479 | 78 | |
0.23 | 335,561 | 79 | |
0.23 | 335,561 | 80 | |
0.229 | 334,102 | 81 | |
0.224 | 326,807 | 82 | |
0.223 | 325,348 | 83 | |
0.222 | 323,889 | 84 | |
0.216 | 315,136 | 85 | |
0.215 | 313,677 | 86 | |
0.213 | 310,759 | 87 | |
0.213 | 310,759 | 88 | |
0.209 | 304,923 | 89 | |
0.206 | 300,546 | 90 | |
0.204 | 297,628 | 91 | |
0.2 | 291,792 | 92 | |
0.197 | 287,415 | 93 | |
0.197 | 287,415 | 94 | |
0.197 | 287,415 | 95 | |
0.197 | 287,415 | 96 | |
0.195 | 284,497 | 97 | |
0.193 | 281,580 | 98 | |
0.191 | 278,662 | 99 | |
0.19 | 277,203 | 100 |
