Humanverse

Rae vs Raengel

American parents have registered 24,420 Raes since 1880, against 22 Raengels. Rae is still ahead, with 176 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rae against Raengel, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rae Raengel

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

Rae has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2007, when Rae had 60 and Raengel had 22.

Side by side

  Rae Raengel
Total US births 24,42022
Most in one year 41222
Babies in 2025 176under 5
Estimated living today 15,00020
Median age today 5718
Peak year 19562007
Best rank 453rd girls6,093rd girls
Rank in 2025 1,299thunranked
First recorded 18802007
Girls / boys 23,460 / 96022 / 0

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 Raes alive today are over 57; half the Raengels are over 18. That is 39 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: Rae and Raengel.