Humanverse

Adolphus vs Adonnis

American parents have registered 4,109 Adolphuses since 1880, against 720 Adonnises. But in 2025 it was Adonnis that was commoner, 32 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Adolphus against Adonnis, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Adolphus Adonnis

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 146 years in which either name was published, Adolphus for 119 years and Adonnis for 27 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.

Side by side

  Adolphus Adonnis
Total US births 4,109720
Most in one year 8551
Babies in 2025 under 532
Estimated living today 1,400710
Median age today 629
Peak year 19222020
Best rank 709th boys2,505th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked3,513th
First recorded 18801980
Girls / boys 0 / 4,1090 / 720

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 Adolphuses alive today are over 62; half the Adonnises are over 9. That is 53 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

Related comparisons

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