Arcelia vs Archer
American parents have registered 31,803 Archers since 1880, against 1,836 Arcelias. Archer is still ahead, with 3,654 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Arcelia Archer
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 131 years in which either name was published, Archer for 78 years and Arcelia for 53 years. The lead changed hands 18 times.
- 1880–1945 Archer ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1948–1998 Arcelia ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 2001–2025 Archer ahead
11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Arcelia | Archer | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,836 | 31,803 |
| Most in one year | 46 | 3,654 |
| Babies in 2025 | 20 | 3,654 |
| Estimated living today | 1,500 | 31,000 |
| Median age today | 42 | 5 |
| Peak year | 1975 | 2025 |
| Best rank | 1,935th girls | 98th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 5,917th | 98th |
| First recorded | 1908 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,836 / 0 | 412 / 31,391 |
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 Arcelias alive today are over 42; half the Archers are over 5. That is 37 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Arcelia and Archer.