Humanverse

Elisaul vs Elise

American parents have registered 75,252 Elises since 1880, against 23 Elisauls. Elise is still ahead, with 1,367 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Elisaul against Elise, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Elisaul Elise

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

Elise 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 1988, when Elisaul had 15 and Elise had 1,102.

Side by side

  Elisaul Elise
Total US births 2375,252
Most in one year 152,126
Babies in 2025 under 51,367
Estimated living today 2067,000
Median age today 3721
Peak year 19882012
Best rank 3,350th boys152nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked223rd
First recorded 19881880
Girls / boys 0 / 2375,186 / 66

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 Elisauls alive today are over 37; half the Elises are over 21. That is 16 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: Elisaul and Elise.