Humanverse

Areej vs Aretta

American parents have registered 1,142 Arettas since 1880, against 612 Areejs. But in 2025 it was Areej that was commoner, 15 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Areej against Aretta, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Areej Aretta

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 107 years in which either name was published, Aretta for 70 years and Areej for 37 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Areej Aretta
Total US births 6121,142
Most in one year 4033
Babies in 2025 15under 5
Estimated living today 610370
Median age today 1271
Peak year 20171923
Best rank 3,769th girls1,388th girls
Rank in 2025 7,133rdunranked
First recorded 19811900
Girls / boys 612 / 01,142 / 0

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 Arettas alive today are over 71; half the Areejs are over 12. That is 59 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: Areej and Aretta.