Humanverse

Eldana vs Eldred

American parents have registered 4,040 Eldreds since 1880, against 598 Eldanas. But in 2025 it was Eldana that was commoner, 19 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Eldana against Eldred, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Eldana Eldred

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 124 years in which either name was published, Eldred for 106 years and Eldana for 18 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Eldana Eldred
Total US births 5984,040
Most in one year 59168
Babies in 2025 19under 5
Estimated living today 5901,000
Median age today 864
Peak year 20141921
Best rank 2,888th girls572nd boys
Rank in 2025 6,116thunranked
First recorded 20081882
Girls / boys 598 / 0294 / 3,746

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 Eldreds alive today are over 64; half the Eldanas are over 8. That is 56 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

Related comparisons

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