Humanverse

Ebenezer vs Ebert

American parents have registered 1,249 Ebenezers since 1880, against 299 Eberts. Ebenezer is still ahead, with 52 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ebenezer against Ebert, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ebenezer Ebert

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 84 years in which either name was published, Ebenezer for 49 years and Ebert for 35 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Ebenezer Ebert
Total US births 1,249299
Most in one year 5517
Babies in 2025 52under 5
Estimated living today 1,20040
Median age today 1267
Peak year 20171919
Best rank 2,345th boys1,882nd boys
Rank in 2025 2,539thunranked
First recorded 18841892
Girls / boys 33 / 1,2160 / 299

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 Eberts alive today are over 67; half the Ebenezers are over 12. That is 55 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: Ebenezer and Ebert.