Humanverse

Julia vs Julyssa

American parents have registered 477,993 Julias since 1880, against 952 Julyssas. Julia is still ahead, with 2,172 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Julia against Julyssa, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Julia Julyssa

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

Julia has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2009, when Julia had 4,996 and Julyssa had 55.

Side by side

  Julia Julyssa
Total US births 477,993952
Most in one year 8,84961
Babies in 2025 2,1727
Estimated living today 314,000940
Median age today 3119
Peak year 20012006
Best rank 27th girls2,850th girls
Rank in 2025 131st11,932nd
First recorded 18801989
Girls / boys 476,250 / 1,743952 / 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 Julias alive today are over 31; half the Julyssas are over 19. That is 12 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: Julia and Julyssa.