Humanverse

Orva vs Orvil

American parents have registered 1,935 Orvils since 1880, against 613 Orvas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Orva against Orvil, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Orva Orvil

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 82 years in which either name was published, Orvil for 73 years and Orva for 9 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Orva Orvil
Total US births 6131,935
Most in one year 2986
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 70340
Median age today 8675
Peak year 19191921
Best rank 1,698th girls698th boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18821897
Girls / boys 508 / 1050 / 1,935

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 Orvas alive today are over 86; half the Orvils are over 75. That is 11 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: Orva and Orvil.