Ansel vs Anson
American parents have registered 7,937 Ansons since 1880, against 4,811 Ansels. But in 2025 it was Ansel that was commoner, 186 babies to 94.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Ansel Anson
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 140 years in which either name was published, Anson for 95 years and Ansel for 45 years. The lead changed hands 25 times.
- 1880–1887 Anson ahead
- 1888–1934 Ansel ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1939–1947 Anson ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1948–1951 Ansel ahead
- 1954–2020 Anson ahead
- 2023–2025 Ansel ahead
16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Ansel | Anson | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 4,811 | 7,937 |
| Most in one year | 186 | 302 |
| Babies in 2025 | 186 | 94 |
| Estimated living today | 3,500 | 6,800 |
| Median age today | 11 | 17 |
| Peak year | 2025 | 2016 |
| Best rank | 1,138th boys | 785th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,138th | 1,728th |
| First recorded | 1882 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 10 / 4,801 | 5 / 7,932 |
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 Ansons alive today are over 17; half the Ansels are over 11. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Ansel South Carolina (9.9×), Colorado (4.9×), California (3.2×)
- Anson Hawaii (8.7×), California (2.5×), Texas (2.4×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Both names abroad
Countries whose statistics office publishes both names, so the comparison can be made somewhere other than the United States.
| Country | Ansel | Anson |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | 136 | 159 |
Every spelling a country files separately is added together, over whatever years that country publishes — which is not the same range in any two of them, so read the columns against each other and not the rows.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Ansel and Anson.