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Dolph vs Dolphus

American parents have registered 1,245 Dolphuses since 1880, against 626 Dolphs. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Dolph Dolphus

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 91 years in which either name was published, Dolphus for 79 years and Dolph for 12 years. The lead changed hands 15 times.

9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Dolph Dolphus
Total US births 6261,245
Most in one year 1837
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 170290
Median age today 6872
Peak year 19191930
Best rank 1,811th boys1,151st boys
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18811880
Girls / boys 0 / 6260 / 1,245

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 Dolphuses alive today are over 72; half the Dolphs are over 68. That is 4 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: Dolph and Dolphus.