Belen vs Belia

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Belen Belia

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 116 years in which either name was published, Belen for 84 years and Belia for 32 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.

• 1909–1923 Belen ahead
• 1924–1960 Belia ahead, apart from 3 short spells
• 1961–2025 Belen ahead, apart from one short spell

8 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 Belias alive today are over 63; half the Belens are over 17. That is 46 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Belen California (4.3×), Arizona (3.9×), Texas (3.0×)
• Belia Texas (10.5×), Arizona (2.7×), California (1.6×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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