Humanverse

Lesly vs Lestine

American parents have registered 15,785 Leslys since 1880, against 208 Lestines. Lesly is still ahead, with 149 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lesly against Lestine, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lesly Lestine

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 98 years in which either name was published, Lesly for 90 years and Lestine for 8 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Lesly Lestine
Total US births 15,785208
Most in one year 84714
Babies in 2025 149under 5
Estimated living today 15,000140
Median age today 2171
Peak year 20031954
Best rank 364th girls3,019th girls
Rank in 2025 1,443rdunranked
First recorded 19191923
Girls / boys 15,281 / 504208 / 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 Lestines alive today are over 71; half the Leslys are over 21. That is 50 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: Lesly and Lestine.