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Magdalyn vs Magnus

American parents have registered 6,172 Magnuses since 1880, against 651 Magdalyns. Magnus is still ahead, with 337 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Magdalyn against Magnus, 1880 to 2025 0 100 200 300 400 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Magdalyn Magnus

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

Magnus has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1890 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1983, when Magdalyn had 6 and Magnus had 6.

Side by side

  Magdalyn Magnus
Total US births 6516,172
Most in one year 32354
Babies in 2025 5337
Estimated living today 6405,700
Median age today 168
Peak year 20102021
Best rank 4,494th girls729th boys
Rank in 2025 14,942nd763rd
First recorded 19131890
Girls / boys 651 / 00 / 6,172

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 Magnuses are over 8. That is 8 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 Magnus.