Humanverse

Maria vs Marshae

American parents have registered 570,389 Marias since 1880, against 584 Marshaes. Maria is still ahead, with 2,893 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Maria against Marshae, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Maria Marshae

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

Maria 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 1994, when Maria had 6,794 and Marshae had 34.

Side by side

  Maria Marshae
Total US births 570,389584
Most in one year 10,19734
Babies in 2025 2,893under 5
Estimated living today 466,000570
Median age today 4528
Peak year 19641993
Best rank 41st girls3,290th girls
Rank in 2025 87thunranked
First recorded 18801971
Girls / boys 566,111 / 4,278584 / 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 Marias alive today are over 45; half the Marshaes are over 28. That is 17 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: Maria and Marshae.