Humanverse

Scott vs Scottlyn

American parents have registered 777,605 Scotts since 1880, against 785 Scottlyns. Scott is still ahead, with 561 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Scott Scottlyn

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 Scott had 561 and Scottlyn had 125.

Side by side

  Scott Scottlyn
Total US births 777,605785
Most in one year 31,034125
Babies in 2025 561125
Estimated living today 655,000780
Median age today 554
Peak year 19712025
Best rank 10th boys1,652nd girls
Rank in 2025 534th1,652nd
First recorded 18801999
Girls / boys 2,608 / 774,997785 / 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 Scotts alive today are over 55; half the Scottlyns are over 4. That is 51 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: Scott and Scottlyn.