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Rayford vs Rayne

American parents have registered 9,380 Raynes since 1880, against 5,516 Rayfords. Rayne is still ahead, with 368 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Rayford Rayne

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 124 years in which either name was published, Rayford for 85 years and Rayne for 39 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Rayford Rayne
Total US births 5,5169,380
Most in one year 124435
Babies in 2025 5368
Estimated living today 2,5009,300
Median age today 6412
Peak year 19372019
Best rank 517th boys733rd girls
Rank in 2025 12,008th904th
First recorded 18961947
Girls / boys 0 / 5,5168,034 / 1,346

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 Rayfords alive today are over 64; half the Raynes are over 12. That is 52 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: Rayford and Rayne.