Humanverse

Gwen vs Gwenivere

American parents have registered 32,911 Gwens since 1880, against 811 Gweniveres. Gwen is still ahead, with 384 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gwen against Gwenivere, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gwen Gwenivere

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

Gwen has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1890 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2022, when Gwen had 329 and Gwenivere had 87.

Side by side

  Gwen Gwenivere
Total US births 32,911811
Most in one year 95187
Babies in 2025 38451
Estimated living today 24,000810
Median age today 606
Peak year 19592022
Best rank 295th girls2,174th girls
Rank in 2025 725th3,130th
First recorded 18901970
Girls / boys 32,617 / 294811 / 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 Gwens alive today are over 60; half the Gweniveres are over 6. That is 54 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Gwen and Gwenivere.