Ancel vs Ancil

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Ancel Ancil

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 97 years in which either name was published, Ancil for 70 years and Ancel for 27 years. The lead changed hands 24 times.

• 1883–1885 Ancel ahead
• 1888–1895 Ancil ahead
• 1904–1907 Ancel ahead
• 1908–1991 Ancil ahead, apart from 7 short spells
• 1998–2019 Ancel ahead, apart from one short spell

12 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Ancils alive today are over 69; half the Ancels are over 59. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

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