Selby vs Selvin

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Selby Selvin

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 109 years in which either name was published, Selby for 63 years and Selvin for 46 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.

• 1909–1963 Selby ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1964–1966 Selvin ahead
• 1967–1974 Selby ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1980–1982 Selvin ahead
• 1993–1995 Selby ahead
• 1996–2025 Selvin ahead

11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Selbys alive today are over 32; half the Selvins are over 16. That is 16 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

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