Ardella vs Arden
American parents have registered 16,085 Ardens since 1880, against 3,478 Ardellas. Arden is still ahead, with 486 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Ardella Arden
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, Arden for 115 years and Ardella for 31 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Ardella | Arden | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 3,478 | 16,085 |
| Most in one year | 111 | 486 |
| Babies in 2025 | 8 | 486 |
| Estimated living today | 890 | 11,000 |
| Median age today | 74 | 15 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 2024 |
| Best rank | 705th girls | 942nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 10,917th | 1,005th |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1881 |
| Girls / boys | 3,478 / 0 | 7,518 / 8,567 |
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 Ardellas alive today are over 74; half the Ardens are over 15. That is 59 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Ardella North Dakota (31.6×), Minnesota (12.6×), South Dakota (9.3×)
- Arden Minnesota (2.9×), Wisconsin (2.7×), West Virginia (2.3×)
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: Ardella and Arden.