Humanverse

Railyn vs Rain

American parents have registered 4,806 Rains since 1880, against 909 Railyns. Rain is still ahead, with 275 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Railyn against Rain, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Railyn Rain

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

Rain has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1956 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2016, when Railyn had 64 and Rain had 128.

Side by side

  Railyn Rain
Total US births 9094,806
Most in one year 64275
Babies in 2025 36275
Estimated living today 9004,800
Median age today 1012
Peak year 20132023
Best rank 2,706th girls1,212th girls
Rank in 2025 4,661st1,235th
First recorded 19941956
Girls / boys 896 / 133,618 / 1,188

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 Rains alive today are over 12; half the Railyns are over 10. 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: Railyn and Rain.