Humanverse

Author vs Autum

American parents have registered 3,311 Autums since 1880, against 2,173 Authors. Autum is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Author against Autum, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Author Autum

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 137 years in which either name was published, Author for 83 years and Autum for 54 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Author Autum
Total US births 2,1733,311
Most in one year 59146
Babies in 2025 under 512
Estimated living today 6403,300
Median age today 7226
Peak year 19331998
Best rank 799th boys1,242nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked8,362nd
First recorded 18801971
Girls / boys 0 / 2,1733,311 / 0

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 Authors alive today are over 72; half the Autums are over 26. That is 46 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: Author and Autum.