Humanverse

Ara vs Arath

American parents have registered 4,866 Aras since 1880, against 1,154 Araths. Ara is still ahead, with 58 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ara against Arath, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ara Arath

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, Ara for 137 years and Arath for 9 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Ara Arath
Total US births 4,8661,154
Most in one year 93110
Babies in 2025 5822
Estimated living today 2,9001,100
Median age today 2918
Peak year 20222002
Best rank 2,364th girls1,236th boys
Rank in 2025 3,249th4,539th
First recorded 18801996
Girls / boys 3,565 / 1,3010 / 1,154

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 Aras alive today are over 29; half the Araths are over 18. That is 11 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: Ara and Arath.