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Burleigh vs Burton

American parents have registered 22,534 Burtons since 1880, against 467 Burleighs. Burton is still ahead, with 23 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Burleigh against Burton, 1880 to 2025 0 150 300 450 600 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Burleigh Burton

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

Burton has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1892, when Burleigh had 6 and Burton had 32.

Side by side

  Burleigh Burton
Total US births 46722,534
Most in one year 29597
Babies in 2025 under 523
Estimated living today 1007,000
Median age today 7664
Peak year 19321925
Best rank 1,254th boys222nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked4,396th
First recorded 18921880
Girls / boys 0 / 46748 / 22,486

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 Burleighs alive today are over 76; half the Burtons are over 64. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Burleigh and Burton.