Humanverse

Saydee vs Sayward

American parents have registered 1,616 Saydees since 1880, against 117 Saywards. Saydee is still ahead, with 35 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Saydee against Sayward, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Saydee Sayward

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 42 years in which either name was published, Saydee for 35 years and Sayward for 7 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Saydee Sayward
Total US births 1,616117
Most in one year 10129
Babies in 2025 35under 5
Estimated living today 1,600110
Median age today 1445
Peak year 20131981
Best rank 1,953rd girls2,986th girls
Rank in 2025 4,067thunranked
First recorded 19891978
Girls / boys 1,616 / 0117 / 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 Saywards alive today are over 45; half the Saydees are over 14. That is 31 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: Saydee and Sayward.