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Winnefred vs Winston

American parents have registered 32,956 Winstons since 1880, against 49 Winnefreds. Winston is still ahead, with 830 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Winnefred against Winston, 1880 to 2025 0 250 500 750 1k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Winnefred Winston

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

Winston has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1916, when Winnefred had 11 and Winston had 199.

Side by side

  Winnefred Winston
Total US births 4932,956
Most in one year 11866
Babies in 2025 under 5830
Estimated living today 123,000
Median age today 9722
Peak year 19162019
Best rank 2,658th girls371st boys
Rank in 2025 unranked381st
First recorded 19161880
Girls / boys 49 / 0162 / 32,794

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 Winnefreds alive today are over 97; half the Winstons are over 22. That is 75 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: Winnefred and Winston.