Compare names: which was more popular, and when
Try Emma & Olivia Liam & John Mary & Emma Jayden, Aiden, Aidan, Ayden
Babies given each name, per year
Each name has its own line pattern, marker shape and label at the end of its line. A break in a line is a year under the SSA's 5-birth floor, not a drop to zero.
Who passed whom
Peak and latest year
| Name | Peak year | Babies that year | Babies in 2025 | Rank in 2025 |
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Every year, side by side
Show all years
| Year |
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“under 5 or none” is a year the SSA file does not list that name for those babies: fewer than 5, possibly none.
About this comparison
How “passed” is worked out
For each pair of names the page walks the years from 1880 to 2025 and notes every year the name that had fewer babies the year before now has more. Ties are skipped, and a year the SSA file does not list a name counts as fewer than 5 — below any listed count, since the file's floor is 5. The sentence gives the most recent crossover with both counts that year, then every earlier swap. The girls, boys and combined toggles can give different answers: girls and boys are separate rows in the SSA file and are ranked separately.
Worked examples, girls. Emma had more girls than Olivia every year from 1880 to 1973. Olivia passed Emma in 1974 (507 to 490), and they swapped places six more times; the latest is 2019, when 18,577 girls were named Olivia and 17,226 Emma. Emma passed Mary in 1997, 7,749 to 6,650, after 117 years behind.
Worked example, boys. John had more boys than Liam every year until 2011, when Liam had 13,450 and John 11,068. Before 1947 Liam is not in the file at all for boys: under 5 or none each year.
Share a comparison
The address bar keeps the names, for example dankname.com/compare/?n=liam,john, and adds &s=girls, boys or all when you pick a toggle the page would not have chosen. Up to four names; a name the SSA files never list is left off with a note, and so is a fifth name.
What this cannot do
- US data only. The counts are the US Social Security Administration's national file: babies born in the US with a Social Security number. No other country, no states on this page.
- Names under 5 births are hidden. The SSA lists a name for a sex in a year only when 5 or more babies got it. A crossover involving an unlisted year is real in direction (the listed name had at least 5) but the unlisted count could be anything from 0 to 4.
- Spellings are separate names. Aiden, Aidan and Ayden are three lines; put them on one chart to see the spread, but the page does not add them together.
- No meanings or origins. The SSA file holds a name, a sex and a count. Nothing here says what a name means or where it comes from.
- Counts, not shares. The lines are numbers of babies, not a share of all births. Far more babies were born in some years (the 1946–1964 boom) than others, so a line can rise partly because births rose; the comparison between names in the same year is not affected.
Where every number comes from
The SSA's national baby-name file, names.zip (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/names.zip), one text file per year of birth from 1880 to 2025, taken from the Internet Archive's copy of that address captured 28 September 2026, SHA-256 cd78e975ed7bb358e018dd62fbe14ced89295e9581c49172ca4eedcb011b3724. Ranks follow the SSA's rule: within one sex, most babies first, ties alphabetical. One name at a time, with its rank in every decade, is on the name lookup.