Humanverse

Ella vs Ellender

American parents have registered 352,214 Ellas since 1880, against 30 Ellenders. Ella is still ahead, with 5,831 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ella against Ellender, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ella Ellender

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

Ella 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 1956, when Ella had 989 and Ellender had 7.

Side by side

  Ella Ellender
Total US births 352,21430
Most in one year 9,8988
Babies in 2025 5,831under 5
Estimated living today 226,00016
Median age today 1475
Peak year 20101933
Best rank 13th girls3,109th girls
Rank in 2025 29thunranked
First recorded 18801933
Girls / boys 351,313 / 90130 / 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 Ellenders alive today are over 75; half the Ellas are over 14. That is 61 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: Ella and Ellender.