Humanverse

Drena vs Dresden

American parents have registered 1,155 Dresdens since 1880, against 618 Drenas. Dresden is still ahead, with 18 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Drena against Dresden, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Drena Dresden

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 81 years in which either name was published, Drena for 46 years and Dresden for 35 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Drena Dresden
Total US births 6181,155
Most in one year 3784
Babies in 2025 under 518
Estimated living today 4901,100
Median age today 6313
Peak year 19452012
Best rank 1,312th girls1,942nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked5,208th
First recorded 19381964
Girls / boys 618 / 0183 / 972

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 Drenas alive today are over 63; half the Dresdens are over 13. That is 50 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: Drena and Dresden.