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Leif vs Leitha

American parents have registered 10,002 Leifs since 1880, against 731 Leithas. Leif is still ahead, with 257 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Leif against Leitha, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Leif Leitha

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 126 years in which either name was published, Leif for 102 years and Leitha for 24 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Leif Leitha
Total US births 10,002731
Most in one year 29022
Babies in 2025 257under 5
Estimated living today 9,000260
Median age today 2367
Peak year 20221916
Best rank 841st boys1,630th girls
Rank in 2025 917thunranked
First recorded 19121880
Girls / boys 5 / 9,997731 / 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 Leithas alive today are over 67; half the Leifs are over 23. That is 44 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: Leif and Leitha.