Humanverse

Eilene vs Eilleen

American parents have registered 2,087 Eilenes since 1880, against 503 Eilleens. Eilene is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Eilene Eilleen

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 112 years in which either name was published, Eilene for 104 years and Eilleen for 8 years. The lead changed hands 16 times.

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

Side by side

  Eilene Eilleen
Total US births 2,087503
Most in one year 5416
Babies in 2025 10under 5
Estimated living today 1,100260
Median age today 6662
Peak year 19461916
Best rank 1,165th girls2,028th girls
Rank in 2025 9,457thunranked
First recorded 19091915
Girls / boys 2,087 / 0503 / 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 Eilenes alive today are over 66; half the Eilleens are over 62. 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: Eilene and Eilleen.