Step 1 : Introduction to the question "What is the most popular girls’ name in the U.S. in the past 100 years?"
...According to records compiled by the Social Security Administration, Mary is the runaway leader. Since national tracking began in 1880, more than 4 million girls in the United States have been given the name. Mary ranked No. 1 for decades, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, building such a commanding lead that later favorites have never come close to catching it. By comparison, even names that defined entire generations—like Jennifer in the 1970s or Jessica in the 1980s—fall well short of Mary’s cumulative total.
