Iowa’s Winningest Names

Maybe we got a little silly when we were overcome by the heat. Maybe we were just looking for a project to fill out a long summer day. Really, we just thought it would be something fun to do.

So this summer, we ran an analysis of our lottery winners’ names just to put together a list of Iowa’s winningest names when it comes to lottery prizes. A few names immediately rose to the top: Tim and Robert, Kellie and Patty.

I’ll immediately emphasize that people with those names aren’t really any luckier than anyone else in our state. As I’ve said in this blog before, lottery games and their drawings are based upon random statistics. We conducted our analysis just for fun, so you don’t have to change your name to win. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has the same chance of winning!

In our project, we compiled the first names of those who have claimed lottery prizes of $100,000 or more since the lottery’s start in 1985. Then we analyzed the database in two different ways: We looked to see which names had won the most money in terms of lottery prizes of $100,000 or more. Then we looked at which names had won the most prizes in terms of sheer numbers at that same level.

Tim tops the list as Iowa’s luckiest male name in terms of the dollar amount of jackpots claimed, with two men named Tim/Timothy claiming at least a share of Powerball jackpots totaling more than $228 million since 1985. Tim Schultz of Des Moines claimed a $28 million jackpot in 1999 and Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge claimed a $200.8 million jackpot in 2006.)

But, Robert is lucky in terms of the number of prizes claimed, with 33 men named Robert/Bob claiming prizes of $100,000 or more since the lottery started.

Kellie leads the list of lucky female names in terms of the amount of money won, again because Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge formed a trust when they claimed their $200.8 million Powerball jackpot in October 2006. However, Patricia is luck in terms of overall prize numbers, with 14 women named Patricia/Patty claiming prizes of at least $100,000 since the lottery’s start.

Here is the list of the Top Five winningest names in Iowa! Is your name on the list?

Male	Number of Prize Winners	Female	Number of Prize Winners
1. Robert/Bob	33	1. Patricia/Patty	14
2. John/Jon	26	2. Betty	10
3. Richard/Rick	25	3. (tie) Susan/Sue/Suzanne Joan Mary Debbie/Deborah	8 8 8 8
4. (tie) James/Jim Donald Gary	18 18 18	4. (tie) Linda Anna/Ann Kathy/Kathleen	7 7 7
5. (tie) Bill/William Larry/Lawrence	17 17	5. (tie) Janice/Janet/Jan Sandra/Sandy Nancy	6 6 6