Humanverse

Ovelia vs Overton

American parents have registered 544 Overtons since 1880, against 65 Ovelias. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ovelia against Overton, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ovelia Overton

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 60 years in which either name was published, Overton for 57 years and Ovelia for 3 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Ovelia Overton
Total US births 65544
Most in one year 1129
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 9120
Median age today 570
Peak year 19161918
Best rank 2,658th girls1,313th boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19161884
Girls / boys 65 / 00 / 544

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 Overtons alive today are over 70; half the Ovelias are over 5. That is 65 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Ovelia and Overton.