Humanverse

Glee vs Glenn

American parents have registered 250,778 Glenns since 1880, against 801 Glees. Glenn is still ahead, with 124 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Glee against Glenn, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Glee Glenn

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

Glenn 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 1893, when Glee had 5 and Glenn had 138.

Side by side

  Glee Glenn
Total US births 801250,778
Most in one year 267,389
Babies in 2025 under 5124
Estimated living today 290135,000
Median age today 7464
Peak year 19471962
Best rank 2,045th girls55th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,443rd
First recorded 18931880
Girls / boys 781 / 202,136 / 248,642

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 Glees alive today are over 74; half the Glenns are over 64. That is 10 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: Glee and Glenn.