Humanverse

Eldene vs Eldred

American parents have registered 4,040 Eldreds since 1880, against 129 Eldenes. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Eldene against Eldred, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Eldene Eldred

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

Eldred has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2012. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1943, when Eldene had 7 and Eldred had 26.

Side by side

  Eldene Eldred
Total US births 1294,040
Most in one year 9168
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 201,000
Median age today 8564
Peak year 19181921
Best rank 3,244th girls572nd boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19181882
Girls / boys 129 / 0294 / 3,746

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 Eldenes alive today are over 85; half the Eldreds are over 64. That is 21 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: Eldene and Eldred.