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Burnell vs Burnis

American parents have registered 3,383 Burnells since 1880, against 932 Burnises. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Burnell Burnis

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 102 years in which either name was published, Burnell for 101 years and Burnis for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Burnell Burnis
Total US births 3,383932
Most in one year 8639
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 1,200300
Median age today 6769
Peak year 19201925
Best rank 816th boys1,360th boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19061912
Girls / boys 593 / 2,79090 / 842

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 Burnises alive today are over 69; half the Burnells are over 67. That is 2 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: Burnell and Burnis.