Fernande vs Ferne
American parents have registered 4,676 Fernes since 1880, against 521 Fernandes. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Fernande Ferne
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
Ferne has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2020. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1938, when Fernande had 13 and Ferne had 31.
Side by side
| Fernande | Ferne | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 521 | 4,676 |
| Most in one year | 34 | 247 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 50 | 470 |
| Median age today | 87 | 80 |
| Peak year | 1922 | 1916 |
| Best rank | 1,366th girls | 400th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1910 | 1884 |
| Girls / boys | 521 / 0 | 4,676 / 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 Fernandes alive today are over 87; half the Fernes are over 80. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Fernande Maine (135.1×), New Hampshire (38.0×), Massachusetts (9.3×)
- Ferne Iowa (9.5×), South Dakota (8.6×), Nebraska (7.4×)
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: Fernande and Ferne.