Graham vs Grayling
American parents have registered 61,671 Grahams since 1880, against 529 Graylings. Graham is still ahead, with 2,980 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Graham Grayling
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
Graham has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1957, when Graham had 96 and Grayling had 58.
Side by side
| Graham | Grayling | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 61,671 | 529 |
| Most in one year | 2,980 | 61 |
| Babies in 2025 | 2,980 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 57,000 | 400 |
| Median age today | 12 | 66 |
| Peak year | 2025 | 1959 |
| Best rank | 120th boys | 987th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 120th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1881 | 1950 |
| Girls / boys | 235 / 61,436 | 0 / 529 |
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 Graylings alive today are over 66; half the Grahams are over 12. That is 54 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Graham Utah (2.2×), North Carolina (2.2×), Colorado (1.8×)
- Grayling North Carolina (10.3×)
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: Graham and Grayling.