Humanverse

Makalah vs Makayla

American parents have registered 108,183 Makaylas since 1880, against 656 Makalahs. Makayla is still ahead, with 530 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Makalah against Makayla, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Makalah Makayla

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

Makayla has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1971 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2005, when Makalah had 108 and Makayla had 5,741.

Side by side

  Makalah Makayla
Total US births 656108,183
Most in one year 1085,963
Babies in 2025 under 5530
Estimated living today 650107,000
Median age today 2119
Peak year 20052008
Best rank 1,803rd girls37th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked566th
First recorded 19931971
Girls / boys 656 / 0108,030 / 153

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 Makalahs alive today are over 21; half the Makaylas are over 19. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Makalah and Makayla.