Humanverse

Alban vs Albertha

American parents have registered 5,145 Alberthas since 1880, against 1,000 Albans. But in 2025 it was Alban that was commoner, 6 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Alban Albertha

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 136 years in which either name was published, Albertha for 92 years and Alban for 44 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Alban Albertha
Total US births 1,0005,145
Most in one year 25147
Babies in 2025 6under 5
Estimated living today 6501,300
Median age today 2676
Peak year 20121922
Best rank 4,003rd boys593rd girls
Rank in 2025 10,695thunranked
First recorded 19121882
Girls / boys 0 / 1,0005,145 / 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 Alberthas alive today are over 76; half the Albans are over 26. That is 50 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: Alban and Albertha.