Humanverse

Bella vs Belton

American parents have registered 83,766 Bellas since 1880, against 1,178 Beltons. Bella is still ahead, with 2,129 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bella against Belton, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bella Belton

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, Bella for 145 years and Belton for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Bella Belton
Total US births 83,7661,178
Most in one year 5,14433
Babies in 2025 2,129under 5
Estimated living today 79,000340
Median age today 1169
Peak year 20101923
Best rank 48th girls1,256th boys
Rank in 2025 136thunranked
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 83,721 / 450 / 1,178

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 Beltons alive today are over 69; half the Bellas are over 11. That is 58 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: Bella and Belton.