Earle vs Earnestine
American parents have registered 16,134 Earnestines since 1880, against 11,790 Earles. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Earle Earnestine
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 128 years in which either name was published, Earle for 79 years and Earnestine for 49 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.
- 1880–1924 Earle ahead
- 1925–1967 Earnestine ahead
- 1968 Earle ahead
- 1969–1970 Earnestine ahead
- 1971–1993 Earle ahead
- 1994–1996 Earnestine ahead
- 1997–2000 Earle ahead
- 2001 Earnestine ahead
- 2002–2014 Earle ahead
Side by side
| Earle | Earnestine | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 11,790 | 16,134 |
| Most in one year | 358 | 489 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 2,600 | 7,300 |
| Median age today | 69 | 75 |
| Peak year | 1918 | 1944 |
| Best rank | 293rd boys | 305th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1889 |
| Girls / boys | 285 / 11,505 | 16,073 / 61 |
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 Earnestines alive today are over 75; half the Earles are over 69. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Earle Maine (14.5×), Massachusetts (6.2×), New Hampshire (4.4×)
- Earnestine Mississippi (15.7×), Arkansas (8.6×), Alabama (6.7×)
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: Earle and Earnestine.