Humanverse

Ismail vs Ismenia

American parents have registered 4,022 Ismails since 1880, against 49 Ismenias. Ismail is still ahead, with 204 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ismail against Ismenia, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ismail Ismenia

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

Ismail has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1962 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1995, when Ismail had 52 and Ismenia had 23.

Side by side

  Ismail Ismenia
Total US births 4,02249
Most in one year 20423
Babies in 2025 204under 5
Estimated living today 3,90050
Median age today 1329
Peak year 20251995
Best rank 1,064th boys4,348th girls
Rank in 2025 1,064thunranked
First recorded 19621995
Girls / boys 0 / 4,02249 / 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 Ismenias alive today are over 29; half the Ismails are over 13. That is 16 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: Ismail and Ismenia.