Margaret vs Marleni

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Margaret Marleni

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

Margaret 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 2008, when Margaret had 1,865 and Marleni had 35.

Side by side

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 Margarets alive today are over 68; half the Marlenis are over 21. That is 47 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Margaret Pennsylvania (1.9×), the District of Columbia (1.8×), Delaware (1.5×)
• Marleni California (6.0×), Texas (2.6×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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• Margaret vs Mary
• Margaret vs Mark
• Margaret vs Maria
• Margaret vs Martha
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• Margaret vs Marilyn
• Marleni vs Mary
• Marleni vs Mark