Humanverse

Geraldine vs Gerane

American parents have registered 212,097 Geraldines since 1880, against 28 Geranes. Geraldine is still ahead, with 73 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Geraldine against Gerane, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Geraldine Gerane

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

Geraldine 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 1928, when Geraldine had 5,175 and Gerane had 14.

Side by side

  Geraldine Gerane
Total US births 212,09728
Most in one year 5,47114
Babies in 2025 73under 5
Estimated living today 77,0003
Median age today 7696
Peak year 19301928
Best rank 43rd girls2,381st girls
Rank in 2025 2,438thunranked
First recorded 18801928
Girls / boys 211,349 / 74828 / 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 Geranes alive today are over 96; half the Geraldines are over 76. That is 20 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: Geraldine and Gerane.