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Alvernon vs Alvin

American parents have registered 162,512 Alvins since 1880, against 13 Alvernons. Alvin is still ahead, with 294 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Alvernon against Alvin, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Alvernon Alvin

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

Alvin 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 1930, when Alvernon had 7 and Alvin had 2,536.

Side by side

  Alvernon Alvin
Total US births 13162,512
Most in one year 72,908
Babies in 2025 under 5294
Estimated living today 473,000
Median age today 7159
Peak year 19301927
Best rank 3,289th boys66th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked838th
First recorded 19301880
Girls / boys 0 / 131,098 / 161,414

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 Alvernons alive today are over 71; half the Alvins are over 59. That is 12 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: Alvernon and Alvin.