Elba vs Elberta

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Elba Elberta

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 139 years in which either name was published, Elba for 96 years and Elberta for 43 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.

• 1888–1898 Elba ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1899–1937 Elberta ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1948–2025 Elba ahead

12 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 Elbertas alive today are over 79; half the Elbas are over 54. That is 25 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Elba New York (7.4×), California (2.5×), New Jersey (2.2×)
• Elberta Illinois (4.8×), New York (3.3×)

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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• Elba vs Elbert
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• Elberta vs Elbridge