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Dola vs Dolan

American parents have registered 1,701 Dolans since 1880, against 994 Dolas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Dola Dolan

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 135 years in which either name was published, Dolan for 85 years and Dola for 50 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.

Side by side

  Dola Dolan
Total US births 9941,701
Most in one year 3536
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 1801,200
Median age today 7830
Peak year 19171996
Best rank 1,219th girls2,254th boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18861914
Girls / boys 994 / 00 / 1,701

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 Dolas alive today are over 78; half the Dolans are over 30. That is 48 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Dola and Dolan.