Humanverse

Windy vs Winfred

American parents have registered 10,455 Winfreds since 1880, against 4,983 Windys. But in 2025 it was Windy that was commoner, 6 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Windy Winfred

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 143 years in which either name was published, Winfred for 89 years and Windy for 54 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Windy Winfred
Total US births 4,98310,455
Most in one year 310260
Babies in 2025 6under 5
Estimated living today 4,6003,600
Median age today 5066
Peak year 19751922
Best rank 551st girls387th boys
Rank in 2025 13,208thunranked
First recorded 19481880
Girls / boys 4,971 / 12351 / 10,104

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 Winfreds alive today are over 66; half the Windys are over 50. That is 16 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: Windy and Winfred.