Arden vs Ardis
American parents have registered 16,085 Ardens since 1880, against 7,416 Ardises. Arden is still ahead, with 486 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Arden Ardis
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 135 years in which either name was published, Arden for 93 years and Ardis for 42 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1881–1898 Arden ahead
- 1899–1933 Ardis ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1945–2025 Arden ahead, apart from 2 short spells
16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Arden | Ardis | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 16,085 | 7,416 |
| Most in one year | 486 | 228 |
| Babies in 2025 | 486 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 11,000 | 2,200 |
| Median age today | 15 | 75 |
| Peak year | 2024 | 1928 |
| Best rank | 942nd boys | 481st girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,005th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1881 | 1899 |
| Girls / boys | 7,518 / 8,567 | 6,386 / 1,030 |
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 Ardises alive today are over 75; half the Ardens are over 15. That is 60 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Arden Minnesota (2.9×), Wisconsin (2.7×), West Virginia (2.3×)
- Ardis North Dakota (19.4×), South Dakota (17.3×), Minnesota (12.7×)
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: Arden and Ardis.