Humanverse

Rainell vs Rainey

American parents have registered 2,632 Raineys since 1880, against 38 Rainells. Rainey is still ahead, with 76 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rainell against Rainey, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rainell Rainey

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 104 years in which either name was published, Rainey for 103 years and Rainell for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Rainell Rainey
Total US births 382,632
Most in one year 2490
Babies in 2025 under 576
Estimated living today 302,300
Median age today 7619
Peak year 19492022
Best rank 1,967th girls2,123rd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked2,368th
First recorded 19491901
Girls / boys 38 / 02,182 / 450

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 Rainells alive today are over 76; half the Raineys are over 19. That is 57 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: Rainell and Rainey.