Humanverse

Elda vs Eldene

American parents have registered 9,012 Eldas since 1880, against 129 Eldenes. Elda is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Elda against Eldene, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Elda Eldene

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

Elda has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1943, when Elda had 70 and Eldene had 7.

Side by side

  Elda Eldene
Total US births 9,012129
Most in one year 2559
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 2,90020
Median age today 5885
Peak year 19161918
Best rank 396th girls3,244th girls
Rank in 2025 5,917thunranked
First recorded 18801918
Girls / boys 8,970 / 42129 / 0

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 Eldenes alive today are over 85; half the Eldas are over 58. That is 27 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: Elda and Eldene.