Humanverse

Ebb vs Ebbie

American parents have registered 663 Ebbies since 1880, against 247 Ebbs. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ebb against Ebbie, 1880 to 2025 0 6 12 18 24 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ebb Ebbie

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 75 years in which either name was published, Ebbie for 61 years and Ebb for 14 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.

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

Side by side

  Ebb Ebbie
Total US births 247663
Most in one year 1323
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 20170
Median age today 7571
Peak year 18901915
Best rank 533rd boys1,883rd girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18811881
Girls / boys 0 / 247346 / 317

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 Ebbs alive today are over 75; half the Ebbies are over 71. That is 4 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: Ebb and Ebbie.