Hayes vs Hayward

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Hayes Hayward

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 145 years in which either name was published, Hayward for 82 years and Hayes for 63 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.

• 1880–1902 Hayes ahead, apart from 4 short spells
• 1910–1983 Hayward ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1986–2025 Hayes ahead, apart from one short spell

13 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 Haywards alive today are over 64; half the Hayeses are over 5. That is 59 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Hayes Utah (4.1×), South Dakota (3.3×), North Dakota (2.6×)
• Hayward Louisiana (10.3×), South Carolina (10.2×), West Virginia (10.1×)

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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