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Vessie vs Vesta

American parents have registered 8,208 Vestas since 1880, against 518 Vessies. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Vessie against Vesta, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Vessie Vesta

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

Vesta has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2024. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1881, when Vessie had 8 and Vesta had 20.

Side by side

  Vessie Vesta
Total US births 5188,208
Most in one year 23257
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 501,500
Median age today 8171
Peak year 19171918
Best rank 1,605th girls408th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18811880
Girls / boys 513 / 58,181 / 27

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 Vessies alive today are over 81; half the Vestas are over 71. That is 10 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: Vessie and Vesta.