Humanverse

Adeline vs Ader

American parents have registered 80,838 Adelines since 1880, against 233 Aders. Adeline is still ahead, with 3,864 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Adeline against Ader, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Adeline Ader

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

Adeline 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 1900, when Adeline had 237 and Ader had 14.

Side by side

  Adeline Ader
Total US births 80,838233
Most in one year 4,12614
Babies in 2025 3,864under 5
Estimated living today 53,0004
Median age today 890
Peak year 20161900
Best rank 63rd girls1,008th girls
Rank in 2025 59thunranked
First recorded 18801889
Girls / boys 80,812 / 26233 / 0

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 Aders alive today are over 90; half the Adelines are over 8. That is 82 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: Adeline and Ader.