Yelena vs Yelitza

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Yelena Yelitza

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 51 years in which either name was published, Yelena for 32 years and Yelitza for 19 years. The lead changed hands 24 times.

• 1961–1992 Yelena ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1997–1999 Yelitza ahead
• 2002–2014 Yelena ahead, apart from one short spell
• 2018–2020 Yelitza ahead

19 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Yelitzas alive today are over 17; half the Yelenas are over 13. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Yelena California (4.7×), Texas (3.9×), Florida (2.1×)
• Yelitza California (4.8×), Texas (4.1×), New York (1.1×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else