Humanverse

Safiya vs Saford

American parents have registered 2,831 Safiyas since 1880, against 11 Safords. Safiya is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Safiya against Saford, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Safiya Saford

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 54 years in which either name was published, Safiya for 53 years and Saford for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Safiya Saford
Total US births 2,83111
Most in one year 16811
Babies in 2025 168under 5
Estimated living today 2,8004
Median age today 1284
Peak year 20251941
Best rank 1,326th girls2,207th boys
Rank in 2025 1,326thunranked
First recorded 19731941
Girls / boys 2,831 / 00 / 11

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 Safords alive today are over 84; half the Safiyas are over 12. That is 72 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: Safiya and Saford.