Presidential First Names

I have long been fascinated by American presidents.  It started when I was in high school and Mr. Stratos, the US History teacher, showed such enthusiasm for Theodore Roosevelt that it was contagious.  I've read biographies of many of them and even published a biography of James K Polk!  Some years ago, someone referred to George W. Bush as George III.  I thought that was odd.  Why would you compare Bush to King George III (1738-1820)?  It turns out he wasn't.  In fact, George W. Bush was the third George to be president.

1. George Washington (1789-1797)
2. George Bush (1989-1993)
3. George W Bush (2001-2009)

Well, that struck me as clever.  It is common for kings and popes to be numbered according to their first name, which is why we had King Henry VIII and Pope Benedict XVI.  With US Presidents, there would be a lot of unique names: Herbert, Millard, Gerald, Barack, Donald, etc.  However, there are a lot of repeats other than George.  Let's take a look.

The Andrews:

1. Andrew I (Andrew Jackson - 1829-1837)
2. Andrew II (Andrew Johnson - 1865-1869)

The Franklins:

1. Franklin I (Franklin Pierce - 1853-1857)
2. Franklin II (Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 1933-1945)

The Williams:

1. William I (William Henry Harrison - 1841)
2. William II (William McKinley - 1897-1901)
3. William III (William Howard Taft - 1909-1913)
4. William IV (William Jefferson Clinton - 1993-2001)

The Johns:

1. John I (John Adams - 1797-1801)
2. John II (John Quincy Adams - 1825-1829)
3. John III (John Tyler - 1841-1845)
4. John IV (John Fitzgerald Kennedy - 1961-1963)

And Finally, the most popular presidential name has thus far been James:

1. James I (James Madison - 1809-1817)
2. James II (James Monroe - 1817-1825)
3. James III (James Knox Polk - 1845-1849)
4. James IV (James Buchanan - 1857-1861)
5. James V (James Garfield - 1881)
6. James VI (James Earl Carter - 1977-1981)

Had George Washington not established a more modest presidency, this might have been how we would view presidents today.  Washington notably declined to be called 'Your Excellency' in favor of simply 'Mr. President.'  Thus, we have President Biden, rather than President Joseph I.