Humanverse

Maclyn vs Macy

American parents have registered 33,304 Macys since 1880, against 108 Maclyns. Macy is still ahead, with 390 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Maclyn against Macy, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Maclyn Macy

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

Macy has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1885 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1927, when Maclyn had 8 and Macy had 37.

Side by side

  Maclyn Macy
Total US births 10833,304
Most in one year 181,494
Babies in 2025 5390
Estimated living today 10032,000
Median age today 720
Peak year 20222003
Best rank 8,032nd girls219th girls
Rank in 2025 14,942nd718th
First recorded 19271885
Girls / boys 94 / 1432,749 / 555

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 Macys alive today are over 20; half the Maclyns are over 7. 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: Maclyn and Macy.