Arne vs Arnie
American parents have registered 2,854 Arnes since 1880, against 2,323 Arnies. But in 2025 it was Arnie that was commoner, 14 babies to 7.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Arne Arnie
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 124 years in which either name was published, Arne for 75 years and Arnie for 49 years. The lead changed hands 40 times.
- 1887–1902 Arnie ahead
- 1905–1907 Arne ahead
- 1908–1911 Arnie ahead
- 1912–1958 Arne ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1959–1962 Arnie ahead
- 1963–1965 Arne ahead
- 1975–1983 Arnie ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1987–1990 Arne ahead
- 1997–2002 Arnie ahead
- 2014–2017 Arne ahead
- 2018–2025 Arnie ahead, apart from one short spell
27 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Arne | Arnie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,854 | 2,323 |
| Most in one year | 69 | 60 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | 14 |
| Estimated living today | 1,300 | 1,200 |
| Median age today | 63 | 61 |
| Peak year | 1916 | 1960 |
| Best rank | 724th boys | 981st boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 9,714th | 6,143rd |
| First recorded | 1903 | 1887 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 2,854 | 235 / 2,088 |
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 Arnes alive today are over 63; half the Arnies are over 61. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Arne Minnesota (15.2×), Washington (12.5×), Michigan (2.7×)
- Arnie Minnesota (7.7×), California (4.1×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Arne | Arnie |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | 79 | 993 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Arne and Arnie.