Orvel vs Orville
American parents have registered 35,220 Orvilles since 1880, against 1,157 Orvels. Orville is still ahead, with 14 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Orvel Orville
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
Orville 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 1972, when Orvel had 8 and Orville had 74.
Side by side
| Orvel | Orville | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,157 | 35,220 |
| Most in one year | 56 | 1,203 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 14 |
| Estimated living today | 180 | 6,400 |
| Median age today | 77 | 71 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1920 |
| Best rank | 890th boys | 134th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 6,143rd |
| First recorded | 1888 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,157 | 155 / 35,065 |
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 Orvels alive today are over 77; half the Orvilles are over 71. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Orvel Oklahoma (34.2×), Missouri (8.7×), Texas (1.6×)
- Orville North Dakota (7.7×), South Dakota (6.8×), Kentucky (4.0×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Orvel and Orville.