Humanverse

Scotlynn vs Scott

American parents have registered 777,605 Scotts since 1880, against 583 Scotlynns. Scott is still ahead, with 561 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Scotlynn against Scott, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Scotlynn Scott

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

Scott 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 2025, when Scotlynn had 90 and Scott had 561.

Side by side

  Scotlynn Scott
Total US births 583777,605
Most in one year 9031,034
Babies in 2025 90561
Estimated living today 580655,000
Median age today 555
Peak year 20251971
Best rank 2,076th girls10th boys
Rank in 2025 2,076th534th
First recorded 20011880
Girls / boys 583 / 02,608 / 774,997

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 Scotts alive today are over 55; half the Scotlynns are over 5. That is 50 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: Scotlynn and Scott.