Doug vs Douglass

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Doug Douglass

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 119 years in which either name was published, Douglass for 75 years and Doug for 44 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.

• 1883–1938 Douglass ahead
• 1939–1979 Doug ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1982–2017 Douglass ahead, apart from one short spell

8 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 Dougs alive today are over 63; half the Douglasses are over 57. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Doug Oregon (3.2×), Washington (3.0×), Montana (3.0×)
• Douglass Maryland (3.7×), Pennsylvania (3.6×), California (2.0×)

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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