Humanverse

Lavern vs Lavola

American parents have registered 17,081 Laverns since 1880, against 31 Lavolas. Lavern is still ahead, with 26 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lavern against Lavola, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lavern Lavola

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

Lavern 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 1921, when Lavern had 393 and Lavola had 9.

Side by side

  Lavern Lavola
Total US births 17,08131
Most in one year 4359
Babies in 2025 26under 5
Estimated living today 6,5001
Median age today 6794
Peak year 19241921
Best rank 346th boys3,400th girls
Rank in 2025 4,050thunranked
First recorded 18801921
Girls / boys 6,845 / 10,23631 / 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 Lavolas alive today are over 94; half the Laverns are over 67. That is 27 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: Lavern and Lavola.