Humanverse

Abigal vs Abilene

American parents have registered 1,674 Abilenes since 1880, against 797 Abigals. Abilene is still ahead, with 91 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Abigal against Abilene, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Abigal Abilene

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 48 years in which either name was published, Abilene for 27 years and Abigal for 21 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Abigal Abilene
Total US births 7971,674
Most in one year 38102
Babies in 2025 under 591
Estimated living today 7901,700
Median age today 2210
Peak year 20052024
Best rank 3,809th girls1,942nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked2,064th
First recorded 19701964
Girls / boys 797 / 01,674 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Abigals alive today are over 22; half the Abilenes are over 10. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Abigal and Abilene.