Humanverse

Lera vs Leray

American parents have registered 2,609 Leras since 1880, against 174 Lerays. Lera is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lera against Leray, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lera Leray

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 129 years in which either name was published, Lera for 128 years and Leray for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Lera Leray
Total US births 2,609174
Most in one year 738
Babies in 2025 10under 5
Estimated living today 77080
Median age today 5749
Peak year 19211920
Best rank 862nd girls3,208th boys
Rank in 2025 9,457thunranked
First recorded 18851920
Girls / boys 2,609 / 00 / 174

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 Leras alive today are over 57; half the Lerays are over 49. That is 8 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: Lera and Leray.