Loralee vs Loretta
American parents have registered 178,066 Lorettas since 1880, against 1,808 Loralees. Loretta is still ahead, with 485 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Loralee Loretta
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
Loretta has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1997, when Loralee had 13 and Loretta had 109.
Side by side
| Loralee | Loretta | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,808 | 178,066 |
| Most in one year | 48 | 3,931 |
| Babies in 2025 | 8 | 485 |
| Estimated living today | 1,400 | 88,000 |
| Median age today | 58 | 68 |
| Peak year | 1938 | 1938 |
| Best rank | 1,031st girls | 62nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 10,917th | 606th |
| First recorded | 1922 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,808 / 0 | 177,564 / 502 |
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 Lorettas alive today are over 68; half the Loralees are over 58. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Loralee California (6.4×)
- Loretta West Virginia (2.4×), North Dakota (1.9×), New Mexico (1.8×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Loralee and Loretta.