Paulene vs Paulette
American parents have registered 47,152 Paulettes since 1880, against 1,416 Paulenes. Paulette is still ahead, with 138 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Paulene Paulette
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 119 years in which either name was published, Paulette for 101 years and Paulene for 18 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
Side by side
| Paulene | Paulette | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,416 | 47,152 |
| Most in one year | 40 | 2,586 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 138 |
| Estimated living today | 590 | 36,000 |
| Median age today | 69 | 70 |
| Peak year | 1920 | 1948 |
| Best rank | 1,206th girls | 123rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,534th |
| First recorded | 1907 | 1907 |
| Girls / boys | 1,416 / 0 | 47,087 / 65 |
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.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Paulene and Paulette.