Metta vs Mettie
American parents have registered 1,123 Mettas since 1880, against 1,031 Metties. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Metta Mettie
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
Of the 102 years in which either name was published, Metta for 56 years and Mettie for 46 years. The lead changed hands 28 times.
- 1882–1884 Metta ahead
- 1885–1910 Mettie ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1914–1917 Metta ahead
- 1926–1945 Mettie ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1949–2021 Metta ahead
20 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Metta | Mettie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,123 | 1,031 |
| Most in one year | 25 | 30 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 280 | 70 |
| Median age today | 57 | 85 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 1918 |
| Best rank | 1,723rd girls | 1,411th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 1,123 / 0 | 1,031 / 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 Metties alive today are over 85; half the Mettas are over 57. That is 28 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: Metta and Mettie.