Humanverse

Symba vs Symphony

American parents have registered 3,291 Symphonys since 1880, against 47 Symbas. Symphony is still ahead, with 145 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Symba against Symphony, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Symba Symphony

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, Symphony for 41 years and Symba for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Symba Symphony
Total US births 473,291
Most in one year 30184
Babies in 2025 5145
Estimated living today 503,300
Median age today 3410
Peak year 19912022
Best rank 3,540th girls1,355th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,525th
First recorded 19911979
Girls / boys 35 / 123,256 / 35

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 Symbas alive today are over 34; half the Symphonys are over 10. That is 24 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: Symba and Symphony.