Humanverse

Nechama vs Necia

American parents have registered 4,030 Nechamas since 1880, against 675 Necias. Nechama is still ahead, with 122 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nechama against Necia, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nechama Necia

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 103 years in which either name was published, Nechama for 59 years and Necia for 44 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Nechama Necia
Total US births 4,030675
Most in one year 13818
Babies in 2025 122under 5
Estimated living today 4,000480
Median age today 1755
Peak year 20221964
Best rank 1,548th girls3,000th girls
Rank in 2025 1,684thunranked
First recorded 19501910
Girls / boys 4,030 / 0675 / 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 Necias alive today are over 55; half the Nechamas are over 17. That is 38 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: Nechama and Necia.