Wess vs Westin
American parents have registered 7,440 Westins since 1880, against 513 Wesses. Westin is still ahead, with 401 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Wess Westin
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 90 years in which either name was published, Wess for 46 years and Westin for 44 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Wess | Westin | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 513 | 7,440 |
| Most in one year | 16 | 475 |
| Babies in 2025 | 8 | 401 |
| Estimated living today | 360 | 7,400 |
| Median age today | 47 | 10 |
| Peak year | 1965 | 2023 |
| Best rank | 1,987th boys | 596th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 8,910th | 688th |
| First recorded | 1883 | 1981 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 513 | 26 / 7,414 |
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 Wesses alive today are over 47; half the Westins are over 10. That is 37 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: Wess and Westin.