Humanverse

Wright vs Wrigley

American parents have registered 1,639 Wrights since 1880, against 1,021 Wrigleys. But in 2025 it was Wrigley that was commoner, 57 babies to 24.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Wright against Wrigley, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Wright Wrigley

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 130 years in which either name was published, Wright for 107 years and Wrigley for 23 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Wright Wrigley
Total US births 1,6391,021
Most in one year 35122
Babies in 2025 2457
Estimated living today 6901,000
Median age today 318
Peak year 19152017
Best rank 1,082nd boys2,295th boys
Rank in 2025 4,249th2,765th
First recorded 18802003
Girls / boys 0 / 1,639408 / 613

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 Wrights alive today are over 31; half the Wrigleys are over 8. That is 23 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

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Wright and Wrigley.