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Park vs Parley

American parents have registered 1,637 Parks since 1880, against 693 Parleys. But in 2025 it was Parley that was commoner, 14 babies to 9.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Park against Parley, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Park 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 137 years in which either name was published, Park for 118 years and Parley for 19 years. The lead changed hands 25 times.

16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Park Parley
Total US births 1,637693
Most in one year 3325
Babies in 2025 914
Estimated living today 700340
Median age today 4418
Peak year 19231918
Best rank 1,256th boys1,446th boys
Rank in 2025 8,243rd6,143rd
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 0 / 1,6376 / 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 Parks alive today are over 44; half the Parleys are over 18. That is 26 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: Park and Parley.