Tenley vs Tennessee
American parents have registered 6,859 Tenleys since 1880, against 1,367 Tennessees. Tenley is still ahead, with 72 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Tenley Tennessee
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 124 years in which either name was published, Tennessee for 62 years and Tenley for 62 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.
Side by side
| Tenley | Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 6,859 | 1,367 |
| Most in one year | 736 | 60 |
| Babies in 2025 | 72 | 38 |
| Estimated living today | 6,800 | 900 |
| Median age today | 12 | 9 |
| Peak year | 2011 | 2021 |
| Best rank | 424th girls | 3,801st girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 2,458th | 4,878th |
| First recorded | 1953 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 6,854 / 5 | 986 / 381 |
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 Tenleys alive today are over 12; half the Tennessees are over 9. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Tenley South Dakota (5.3×), North Dakota (4.7×), Utah (3.5×)
- Tennessee California (3.6×)
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: Tenley and Tennessee.