What are the most popular baby names today? The choices often change from one decade to the next and can depend on many influences. Characters from your favorite tv shows or movies, athletes, and even politicians' names can become an inspiration for parents when naming their newborn child. But what about names you can't give your kid? Some countries around the world have some pretty strict laws when it comes to giving your kid a first name. But here in the United States, it can depend on what state you're in.

Does New York have any Baby Naming Laws?

Obviously, from a practical point, you're not going to name your kid any sort of obscenity, or just an emoji symbol.  We do have a few laws here in the Empire State, and honestly, they're pretty reasonable.

According to USBirthCertifcates.com, first and middle names have a maximum length of 30 characters each, last names cannot exceed 40 characters. Numbers and symbols are forbidden. So, exceedingly long names, or other names like; 69, @, ****, and C-3PO are out.

What About Baby Naming Laws in Other States?

In Illinois, there appear to be no restrictions. In Michigan, only English characters are allowed.  And in Florida, parents must sign an agreement to establish the child’s first name, or else a court will select one. You may have seen this article floating around recently. U.S. federal courts won't allow names like Jesus Christ, Adolf Hitler, or Santa Claus. In France, you can't name your kid Prince William. In Denmark, Monkey or Anus is a no-go, you can't name your kid Robocop in Mexico. Some countries like Saudi Arabia won't allow any names that are too foreign.

Sweden apparently won't allow a kid to be named Metallica.

KEEP READING: Here are the most popular baby names in every state

Using March 2019 data from the Social Security Administration, Stacker compiled a list of the most popular names in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., according to their 2018 SSA rankings. The top five boy names and top five girl names are listed for each state, as well as the number of babies born in 2018 with that name. Historically common names like Michael only made the top five in three states, while the less common name Harper ranks in the top five for 22 states.

Curious what names are trending in your home state? Keep reading to see if your name made the top five -- or to find inspiration for naming your baby.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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