Humanverse

Glenda vs Glennda

American parents have registered 109,522 Glendas since 1880, against 561 Glenndas. Glenda is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Glenda against Glennda, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Glenda Glennda

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

Glenda has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1900 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1998, when Glenda had 112 and Glennda had 5.

Side by side

  Glenda Glennda
Total US births 109,522561
Most in one year 4,22434
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 77,000430
Median age today 7168
Peak year 19501954
Best rank 87th girls1,769th girls
Rank in 2025 5,917thunranked
First recorded 19001934
Girls / boys 109,227 / 295561 / 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 Glendas alive today are over 71; half the Glenndas are over 68. That is 3 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: Glenda and Glennda.