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Laray vs Larry

American parents have registered 811,148 Larrys since 1880, against 799 Larays. Larry is still ahead, with 198 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Laray against Larry, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Laray Larry

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

Larry 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 2021, when Laray had 17 and Larry had 270.

Side by side

  Laray Larry
Total US births 799811,148
Most in one year 2035,027
Babies in 2025 8198
Estimated living today 710499,000
Median age today 3969
Peak year 20091947
Best rank 6,095th boys10th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910th1,084th
First recorded 19241880
Girls / boys 377 / 4223,560 / 807,588

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 Larrys alive today are over 69; half the Larays are over 39. That is 30 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: Laray and Larry.