Humanverse

Chelsea vs Chessie

American parents have registered 163,335 Chelseas since 1880, against 610 Chessies. Chelsea is still ahead, with 319 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Chelsea against Chessie, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Chelsea Chessie

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 120 years in which either name was published, Chelsea for 74 years and Chessie for 46 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Chelsea Chessie
Total US births 163,335610
Most in one year 16,19916
Babies in 2025 319under 5
Estimated living today 160,000220
Median age today 3343
Peak year 19921912
Best rank 15th girls1,352nd girls
Rank in 2025 851stunranked
First recorded 19101888
Girls / boys 162,884 / 451610 / 0

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 Chessies alive today are over 43; half the Chelseas are over 33. That is 10 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: Chelsea and Chessie.