Humanverse

Bilbo vs Billi

American parents have registered 1,746 Billis since 1880, against 132 Bilbos. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bilbo against Billi, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bilbo Billi

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 87 years in which either name was published, Billi for 74 years and Bilbo for 13 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Bilbo Billi
Total US births 1321,746
Most in one year 2284
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 01,600
Median age today 9849
Peak year 19161976
Best rank 1,505th boys1,297th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19101915
Girls / boys 0 / 1321,741 / 5

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 Bilbos alive today are over 98; half the Billis are over 49. That is 49 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: Bilbo and Billi.