Erline vs Erling
American parents have registered 1,640 Erlines since 1880, against 1,402 Erlings. But in 2025 it was Erling that was commoner, 24 babies to fewer than five.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Erline Erling
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, Erline for 56 years and Erling for 28 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.
- 1897–1911 Erline ahead
- 1912–1915 Erling ahead
- 1916–1954 Erline ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1958–1967 Erling ahead
- 1969–2005 Erline ahead
- 2016–2025 Erling ahead
13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Erline | Erling | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,640 | 1,402 |
| Most in one year | 72 | 54 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 24 |
| Estimated living today | 350 | 380 |
| Median age today | 75 | 60 |
| Peak year | 1927 | 2023 |
| Best rank | 874th girls | 2,480th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,249th |
| First recorded | 1897 | 1908 |
| Girls / boys | 1,640 / 0 | 0 / 1,402 |
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 Erlines alive today are over 75; half the Erlings are over 60. That is 15 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Erline South Carolina (15.4×), Alabama (9.6×), Louisiana (8.6×)
- Erling North Dakota (73.9×), Minnesota (25.1×), Wisconsin (6.2×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Erline | Erling |
|---|---|---|
| France | 10 | 10 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Erline and Erling.