Humanverse

Lisbeth vs Lisle

American parents have registered 5,934 Lisbeths since 1880, against 564 Lisles. Lisbeth is still ahead, with 24 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Lisbeth Lisle

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 122 years in which either name was published, Lisbeth for 93 years and Lisle for 29 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Lisbeth Lisle
Total US births 5,934564
Most in one year 40921
Babies in 2025 24under 5
Estimated living today 5,400130
Median age today 2673
Peak year 20021924
Best rank 624th girls1,727th boys
Rank in 2025 5,238thunranked
First recorded 19111885
Girls / boys 5,934 / 021 / 543

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 Lisles alive today are over 73; half the Lisbeths are over 26. That is 47 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: Lisbeth and Lisle.