Humanverse

Paris vs Parley

American parents have registered 42,923 Parises since 1880, against 693 Parleys. Paris is still ahead, with 557 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Paris against Parley, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Paris Parley

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 143 years in which either name was published, Paris for 141 years and Parley for 2 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Paris Parley
Total US births 42,923693
Most in one year 2,24625
Babies in 2025 55714
Estimated living today 41,000340
Median age today 2018
Peak year 20041918
Best rank 157th girls1,446th boys
Rank in 2025 592nd6,143rd
First recorded 18811880
Girls / boys 33,663 / 9,2606 / 687

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 Parises alive today are over 20; half the Parleys are over 18. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Paris and Parley.