Humanverse

Othello vs Other

American parents have registered 803 Othellos since 1880, against 190 Others. Othello is still ahead, with 8 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Othello against Other, 1880 to 2025 0 6 12 18 24 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Othello Other

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 91 years in which either name was published, Othello for 85 years and Other for 6 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Othello Other
Total US births 803190
Most in one year 2415
Babies in 2025 8under 5
Estimated living today 4203
Median age today 2691
Peak year 19231916
Best rank 2,020th boys1,949th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910thunranked
First recorded 19051909
Girls / boys 116 / 6870 / 190

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 Others alive today are over 91; half the Othellos are over 26. That is 65 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: Othello and Other.