Humanverse

Livan vs Livingston

American parents have registered 1,071 Livingstons since 1880, against 292 Livans. Livingston is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Livan Livingston

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 103 years in which either name was published, Livingston for 90 years and Livan for 13 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Livan Livingston
Total US births 2921,071
Most in one year 6629
Babies in 2025 1012
Estimated living today 290580
Median age today 2430
Peak year 19981917
Best rank 1,585th boys1,264th boys
Rank in 2025 7,679th12,008th
First recorded 19971890
Girls / boys 0 / 292114 / 957

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 Livingstons alive today are over 30; half the Livans are over 24. That is 6 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: Livan and Livingston.