Humanverse

Drenda vs Drexel

American parents have registered 1,444 Drexels since 1880, against 565 Drendas. Drexel is still ahead, with 11 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Drenda against Drexel, 1880 to 2025 0 13 25 38 50 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Drenda Drexel

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 109 years in which either name was published, Drexel for 91 years and Drenda for 18 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.

9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Drenda Drexel
Total US births 5651,444
Most in one year 5029
Babies in 2025 under 511
Estimated living today 440820
Median age today 6644
Peak year 19441957
Best rank 1,104th girls1,511th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked7,194th
First recorded 19421910
Girls / boys 565 / 040 / 1,404

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 Drendas alive today are over 66; half the Drexels are over 44. That is 22 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: Drenda and Drexel.