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Wess vs Weston

American parents have registered 76,027 Westons since 1880, against 513 Wesses. Weston is still ahead, with 5,490 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Wess against Weston, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Wess Weston

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 135 years in which either name was published, Weston for 130 years and Wess for 5 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Wess Weston
Total US births 51376,027
Most in one year 165,490
Babies in 2025 85,490
Estimated living today 36073,000
Median age today 478
Peak year 19652025
Best rank 1,987th boys55th boys
Rank in 2025 8,910th55th
First recorded 18831882
Girls / boys 0 / 513120 / 75,907

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 Westons are over 8. That is 39 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 Weston.