Humanverse

Evelene vs Evelyn

American parents have registered 641,662 Evelyns since 1880, against 752 Evelenes. Evelyn is still ahead, with 9,131 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Evelene against Evelyn, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Evelene Evelyn

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

Evelyn 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 1935, when Evelene had 29 and Evelyn had 6,591.

Side by side

  Evelene Evelyn
Total US births 752641,662
Most in one year 3114,308
Babies in 2025 59,131
Estimated living today 240315,000
Median age today 7818
Peak year 19271921
Best rank 1,456th girls12th girls
Rank in 2025 14,942nd8th
First recorded 19091880
Girls / boys 752 / 0639,756 / 1,906

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 Evelenes alive today are over 78; half the Evelyns are over 18. That is 60 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: Evelene and Evelyn.