Humanverse

Eldon vs Eldred

American parents have registered 26,157 Eldons since 1880, against 4,040 Eldreds. Eldon is still ahead, with 60 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Eldon against Eldred, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Eldon 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

Of the 145 years in which either name was published, Eldon for 142 years and Eldred for 3 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Eldon Eldred
Total US births 26,1574,040
Most in one year 647168
Babies in 2025 60under 5
Estimated living today 8,6001,000
Median age today 6564
Peak year 19261921
Best rank 211th boys572nd boys
Rank in 2025 2,304thunranked
First recorded 18811882
Girls / boys 55 / 26,102294 / 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.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Eldon and Eldred.