Research from people search website Spokeo has identified the most common first, last, and full names of graduates at the eight Ivy League universities
When it comes to naming a baby there are many things for parents to consider, names they like, names they don’t like, and names that could lead them to future success.
Spokeo, a people search website, analyzed 66,623,142 LinkedIn profiles to uncover the most common names of graduates from Ivy League Universities.
Their data can reveal the top 10 most common first, last, and full names for each of the Ivy League universities: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell.
You can read the full study here: https://www.spokeo.com/compass/ivy-league-names
The top three most popular girls’ names for Ivy League Graduates
| Rank | First Name | Total Ivy League Graduates |
| 1 | Jennifer | 511,018 |
| 2 | Jessica | 372,335 |
| 3 | Sarah | 366,337 |
The most popular girls’ name for Ivy League school was Jennifer with over 500,000 Ivy League graduates sharing this name. Famous faces includeactress Jennifer Connelly, who is a graduate of both Yale and Stanford!
Second with over 370,000 girls is Jessica, including Brown University graduate actress Jessica Capshaw, who played Dr. Arizona Robbins in Grey’s Anatomy. Closely followed by Sarah in third place with over 360,000.
In a comparison of the Ivy League graduates to the most popular baby girls’ names in the U.S. which are Olivia, Emma, and Charlotte.
The top three most popular boys’ names for Ivy League Graduates
| Rank | First Name | Total |
| 1 | Michael | 795,423 |
| 2 | John | 666,428 |
| 3 | David | 643,850 |
Micheal takes the crown for the most popular boys’ Ivy League graduate name, with over 790,000, including Micheal Burns, a child actor who went on to complete his PHD at Yale. Followed by over 660,000 John’s, which includes actor, director, and producer John Krasinski who was a brown university graduate.
David is the third most popular boys’ name with over 640,000 Ivy League graduates, including actor David Duchovny who attended bothPrinceton and Yale.
Looking again at the most popular boys’ names in the U.S. as a comparison, Liam, Oliver, and Noah ranked top.
The most common first and last in Ivy League schools
| Rank | Full Name | Total |
| 1 | Michael Smith | 4,666 |
| 2 | David Smith | 3,856 |
| 3 | Michael Johnson | 3,290 |
| 4 | Jennifer Smith | 3,268 |
| 5 | David Johnson | 2,871 |
| 6 | Brian Smith | 2,804 |
| 7 | Michael Brown | 2,728 |
| 8 | Jennifer Johnson | 2,690 |
| 9 | Michael Miller | 2,654 |
| 10 | Ryan Smith | 2,558 |
Looking at the most common full names, Michael Smith (4,666), David Smith (3,856), and Michael Johnson (3,290) ranked highest, with Jennifer Smith (3,268) ranking highest for female-specific names.
The only three female names to make the overall top 10 were Jennifer (ranking fourth), Jessica (seventh) and Sarah (eighth). Despite this, the overall top ten list showed more gender diversity than the institute-specific breakdowns.
For the full study including the top first, last, and full names at Ivy Leagues such as Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia: https://www.spokeo.com/compass/ivy-league-names/
Harrison Tang, CEO of Spokeo comments on the findings:
“Although we can’t make assumptions about the gender diversity of the top ten lists, we can see that for all of the college-specific top ten lists, all are much more heavily weighted toward male names. There could be a number of reasons for why the top ten lists are so unrepresentative of the wider college landscape, and why this impacts Ivy League institutions in particular.
“Studies by the Wall Street Journal found that women have been significantly outpacing men when it comes to graduating college, due in part to higher numbers of female admissions and male students being more likely to drop out, particularly since the pandemic. In fact, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that as of 2021, women make up 59.5 percent of all U.S. college students.
However, the same research also revealed that some institutions are discriminating against women in admissions in order to secure a closer ratio between male and female students. One source suggests that this practice is ‘higher education’s dirty little secret, practiced but not publicly acknowledged by many private universities.
“Ivy League institutions also have historically been known for their strong alumni networks, which can play a significant role in the application process. It is possible that these networks, which may have been predominantly male in the past, continue to exert influence on the success and prominence of male graduates. Female alumni may face different networking challenges, potentially affecting their visibility in top positions and the prevalence of their names among graduates.”
Methodology
Our research analyzed LinkedIn data, which reviewed 66,623,142 profiles, from which first names and surnames were ranked in popularity across each of the Ivy League schools: Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Brown University, Dartmouth College and Cornell University.
