Isobel vs Isom

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Isobel Isom

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 142 years in which either name was published, Isom for 74 years and Isobel for 68 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.

• 1880–1901 Isom ahead
• 1902–1930 Isobel ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1934–1989 Isom ahead, apart from 3 short spells
• 1990–2025 Isobel ahead

11 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 Isoms alive today are over 49; half the Isobels are over 14. That is 35 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Isobel Pennsylvania (2.9×), New York (2.9×), California (2.3×)
• Isom Mississippi (35.4×), Georgia (6.7×), Texas (1.8×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else