Humanverse

Ella vs Ellagrace

American parents have registered 352,214 Ellas since 1880, against 469 Ellagraces. Ella is still ahead, with 5,831 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ella against Ellagrace, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ella Ellagrace

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

Ella has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2017, when Ella had 8,090 and Ellagrace had 31.

Side by side

  Ella Ellagrace
Total US births 352,214469
Most in one year 9,89832
Babies in 2025 5,83117
Estimated living today 226,000470
Median age today 1410
Peak year 20102013
Best rank 13th girls4,422nd girls
Rank in 2025 29th6,546th
First recorded 18802004
Girls / boys 351,313 / 901469 / 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 Ellas alive today are over 14; half the Ellagraces are over 10. 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: Ella and Ellagrace.