Humanverse

Island vs Isley

American parents have registered 1,475 Isleys since 1880, against 807 Islands. But in 2025 it was Island that was commoner, 84 babies to 76.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Island against Isley, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Island Isley

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 33 years in which either name was published, Isley for 30 years and Island for 3 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Island Isley
Total US births 8071,475
Most in one year 90115
Babies in 2025 8476
Estimated living today 8001,500
Median age today 59
Peak year 20242016
Best rank 2,585th girls2,093rd girls
Rank in 2025 2,583rd2,751st
First recorded 19981990
Girls / boys 698 / 1091,181 / 294

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 Isleys alive today are over 9; half the Islands are over 5. That is 4 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: Island and Isley.