Humanverse

Rose vs Rosilyn

American parents have registered 502,704 Roses since 1880, against 642 Rosilyns. Rose is still ahead, with 2,386 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rose against Rosilyn, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rose Rosilyn

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

Rose 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 1973, when Rose had 1,102 and Rosilyn had 15.

Side by side

  Rose Rosilyn
Total US births 502,704642
Most in one year 9,82122
Babies in 2025 2,386under 5
Estimated living today 197,000520
Median age today 6659
Peak year 19171949
Best rank 16th girls2,069th girls
Rank in 2025 114thunranked
First recorded 18801930
Girls / boys 500,586 / 2,118642 / 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 Roses alive today are over 66; half the Rosilyns are over 59. That is 7 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: Rose and Rosilyn.