Humanverse

Eldene vs Eldon

American parents have registered 26,157 Eldons since 1880, against 129 Eldenes. Eldon is still ahead, with 60 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Eldene against Eldon, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Eldene Eldon

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

Eldon has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1918, when Eldene had 9 and Eldon had 529.

Side by side

  Eldene Eldon
Total US births 12926,157
Most in one year 9647
Babies in 2025 under 560
Estimated living today 208,600
Median age today 8565
Peak year 19181926
Best rank 3,244th girls211th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked2,304th
First recorded 19181881
Girls / boys 129 / 055 / 26,102

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 Eldons are over 65. That is 20 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: Eldene and Eldon.