Humanverse

Nara vs Narada

American parents have registered 1,069 Naras since 1880, against 208 Naradas. Nara is still ahead, with 72 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nara against Narada, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nara Narada

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 65 years in which either name was published, Nara for 56 years and Narada for 9 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Nara Narada
Total US births 1,069208
Most in one year 7255
Babies in 2025 72under 5
Estimated living today 1,000200
Median age today 1043
Peak year 20241980
Best rank 2,491st girls1,357th boys
Rank in 2025 2,458thunranked
First recorded 19091979
Girls / boys 1,052 / 177 / 201

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 Naradas alive today are over 43; half the Naras are over 10. That is 33 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: Nara and Narada.