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Adlai vs Adler

American parents have registered 4,156 Adlers since 1880, against 696 Adlais. Adler is still ahead, with 292 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Adlai against Adler, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Adlai Adler

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 61 years in which either name was published, Adler for 35 years and Adlai for 26 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Adlai Adler
Total US births 6964,156
Most in one year 39292
Babies in 2025 13292
Estimated living today 5904,100
Median age today 178
Peak year 19522025
Best rank 1,182nd boys871st boys
Rank in 2025 10,695th871st
First recorded 18911985
Girls / boys 88 / 608398 / 3,758

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 Adlais alive today are over 17; half the Adlers are over 8. That is 9 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: Adlai and Adler.