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Scotlyn vs Scotty

American parents have registered 19,389 Scottys since 1880, against 1,385 Scotlyns. Scotty is still ahead, with 159 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Scotlyn against Scotty, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Scotlyn Scotty

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 110 years in which either name was published, Scotty for 98 years and Scotlyn for 12 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Scotlyn Scotty
Total US births 1,38519,389
Most in one year 1631,133
Babies in 2025 155159
Estimated living today 1,40016,000
Median age today 651
Peak year 20241971
Best rank 1,383rd girls210th boys
Rank in 2025 1,406th1,393rd
First recorded 19961915
Girls / boys 1,385 / 0359 / 19,030

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 Scottys alive today are over 51; half the Scotlyns are over 6. That is 45 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: Scotlyn and Scotty.