Iowans with some of the most common first names — that have both a long and a short version — look to be the luckiest in a review of winners by the Iowa Lottery. Lottery spokesperson Tina Potthoff says they compiled the names of the people who have won the most prizes of $100,000 or more since the lottery started in 1985.
The most common names of winners for men were Tim, Robert and John, and for women the names Patricia, Betty and Kellie were at the top. While this research is based on actual winners, Potthoff says don’t go blaming mom and dad if you’ve failed to win a big jackpot. She says everyone has the same odds of winning despite your name.
Potthoff says this information was compiled for fun, and though you might be tempted, spending money to legally change you name is not encouraged. Potthoff says they’re not encouraging people to change their names, and says the list of winning names could change on a daily basis.
Potthoff says some of the names on the list were predictable. She says they knew Tim was probably near the top of the mens’ list as Tim and Kellie Guderian of Fort Dodge claimed a 200,9 million dollar jackpot in 2006, and Tim Schultz of Des Moines claimed a 28 million dollar jackpot in 1999.
The top male names in terms of number of winners of $100,000 or more are:
1. Robert/Bob 33
2. John/Jon 26
3. Richard/Rick 25.
The top names for women are:
1. Patricia/Patty 14
2. Betty 10;
3. (tie) Susan/Sue/Suzanne 8, Joan 8, Mary 8, Debbie/Deborah 8.