Arvel vs Arvella

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Arvel Arvella

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 94 years in which either name was published, Arvel for 71 years and Arvella for 23 years. The lead changed hands 24 times.

• 1901–1909 Arvella ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1912–2006 Arvel ahead, apart from 5 short spells
• 2016–2022 Arvella ahead

16 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 Arvellas alive today are over 73; half the Arvels are over 70. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Arvel Kentucky (14.0×), Arkansas (10.6×), Oklahoma (10.2×)
• Arvella West Virginia (37.1×), Oklahoma (18.5×)

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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