Humanverse

Vernell vs Veronique

American parents have registered 10,468 Vernells since 1880, against 1,460 Veroniques. But in 2025 it was Veronique that was commoner, 10 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Vernell Veronique

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 121 years in which either name was published, Vernell for 98 years and Veronique for 23 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.

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

Side by side

  Vernell Veronique
Total US births 10,4681,460
Most in one year 21566
Babies in 2025 under 510
Estimated living today 5,1001,400
Median age today 6839
Peak year 19241972
Best rank 543rd girls1,456th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked9,457th
First recorded 18971952
Girls / boys 7,124 / 3,3441,460 / 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 Vernells alive today are over 68; half the Veroniques are over 39. That is 29 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: Vernell and Veronique.