Humanverse

Verity vs Vernell

American parents have registered 10,468 Vernells since 1880, against 1,852 Veritys. But in 2025 it was Verity that was commoner, 145 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Verity against Vernell, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Verity Vernell

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, Vernell for 102 years and Verity for 22 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Verity Vernell
Total US births 1,85210,468
Most in one year 145215
Babies in 2025 145under 5
Estimated living today 1,8005,100
Median age today 768
Peak year 20251924
Best rank 1,478th girls543rd girls
Rank in 2025 1,478thunranked
First recorded 19661897
Girls / boys 1,852 / 07,124 / 3,344

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 Vernells alive today are over 68; half the Veritys are over 7. That is 61 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: Verity and Vernell.