Humanverse

Edsel vs Edson

American parents have registered 4,692 Edsons since 1880, against 3,962 Edsels. Edson is still ahead, with 94 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Edsel against Edson, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Edsel Edson

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 134 years in which either name was published, Edson for 76 years and Edsel for 58 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Edsel Edson
Total US births 3,9624,692
Most in one year 224121
Babies in 2025 594
Estimated living today 1,4003,600
Median age today 6021
Peak year 19272019
Best rank 399th boys1,441st boys
Rank in 2025 12,008th1,728th
First recorded 19141880
Girls / boys 0 / 3,9620 / 4,692

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 Edsels alive today are over 60; half the Edsons are over 21. That is 39 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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