Geralyn vs Gertrude

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Geralyn Gertrude

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 146 years in which either name was published, Gertrude for 117 years and Geralyn for 29 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.

• 1880–1955 Gertrude ahead
• 1956–1969 Geralyn ahead
• 1970–1976 Gertrude ahead
• 1977–1979 Geralyn ahead
• 1982–1984 Gertrude ahead
• 1985–1993 Geralyn ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1999–2025 Gertrude ahead

7 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Gertrudes alive today are over 80; half the Geralyns are over 66. That is 14 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Geralyn Wisconsin (4.1×), Louisiana (4.0×), New Jersey (2.7×)
• Gertrude Maine (2.4×), Rhode Island (2.4×), Vermont (2.3×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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