Laretta vs Lars
American parents have registered 7,035 Larses since 1880, against 661 Larettas. Lars is still ahead, with 83 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Laretta Lars
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 121 years in which either name was published, Lars for 117 years and Laretta for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.
Side by side
| Laretta | Lars | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 661 | 7,035 |
| Most in one year | 20 | 128 |
| Babies in 2025 | 6 | 83 |
| Estimated living today | 370 | 6,000 |
| Median age today | 68 | 32 |
| Peak year | 1956 | 2000 |
| Best rank | 2,530th girls | 1,096th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 13,208th | 1,886th |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1883 |
| Girls / boys | 661 / 0 | 0 / 7,035 |
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 Larettas alive today are over 68; half the Larses are over 32. That is 36 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: Laretta and Lars.