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Morrell vs Morris

American parents have registered 71,483 Morrises since 1880, against 692 Morrells. Morris is still ahead, with 92 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Morrell against Morris, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Morrell Morris

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

Morris 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 1996, when Morrell had 8 and Morris had 85.

Side by side

  Morrell Morris
Total US births 69271,483
Most in one year 171,690
Babies in 2025 under 592
Estimated living today 35024,000
Median age today 4964
Peak year 19191918
Best rank 1,882nd boys101st boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,753rd
First recorded 19141880
Girls / boys 0 / 692483 / 71,000

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 Morrises alive today are over 64; half the Morrells are over 49. That is 15 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: Morrell and Morris.