Burl vs Burt
American parents have registered 7,200 Burls since 1880, against 6,555 Burts. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Burl Burt
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 128 years in which either name was published, Burt for 69 years and Burl for 59 years. The lead changed hands 23 times.
- 1880–1900 Burt ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1907–1947 Burl ahead
- 1948–2000 Burt ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2005–2024 Burl ahead
16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Burl | Burt | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 7,200 | 6,555 |
| Most in one year | 211 | 152 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 2,000 | 3,000 |
| Median age today | 69 | 63 |
| Peak year | 1921 | 1956 |
| Best rank | 418th boys | 615th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 19 / 7,181 | 0 / 6,555 |
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 Burls alive today are over 69; half the Burts are over 63. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Burl West Virginia (11.5×), Arkansas (10.5×), Oklahoma (9.2×)
- Burt Hawaii (7.1×), New York (3.8×), California (2.0×)
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: Burl and Burt.