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Magdalyn vs Magnolia

American parents have registered 23,403 Magnolias since 1880, against 651 Magdalyns. Magnolia is still ahead, with 2,233 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Magdalyn against Magnolia, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Magdalyn Magnolia

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

Magnolia 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 1985, when Magdalyn had 5 and Magnolia had 7.

Side by side

  Magdalyn Magnolia
Total US births 65123,403
Most in one year 322,233
Babies in 2025 52,233
Estimated living today 64019,000
Median age today 164
Peak year 20102025
Best rank 4,494th girls124th girls
Rank in 2025 14,942nd124th
First recorded 19131880
Girls / boys 651 / 023,403 / 0

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 Magdalyns alive today are over 16; half the Magnolias are over 4. That is 12 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: Magdalyn and Magnolia.