Arch vs Archibald

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Arch Archibald

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 144 years in which either name was published, Archibald for 94 years and Arch for 50 years. The lead changed hands 43 times.

• 1880–1902 Arch ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1903–1925 Archibald ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1936–1951 Arch ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1952–1954 Archibald ahead
• 1960–1962 Arch ahead
• 1965–1969 Archibald ahead
• 1972–1974 Arch ahead
• 1978–2025 Archibald ahead

31 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Arches alive today are over 61; half the Archibalds are over 7. That is 54 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Arch Kentucky (10.9×), Tennessee (6.6×), Missouri (4.5×)
• Archibald New York (2.6×), Pennsylvania (2.4×), Massachusetts (2.0×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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