Humanverse

Lon vs Lonell

American parents have registered 9,856 Lons since 1880, against 786 Lonells. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Lon Lonell

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 140 years in which either name was published, Lon for 136 years and Lonell for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Lon Lonell
Total US births 9,856786
Most in one year 27427
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 5,300560
Median age today 6451
Peak year 19481980
Best rank 411th boys2,003rd boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18801918
Girls / boys 20 / 9,83623 / 763

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 Lons alive today are over 64; half the Lonells are over 51. That is 13 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: Lon and Lonell.