Humanverse

Elsie vs Elsworth

American parents have registered 190,958 Elsies since 1880, against 829 Elsworths. Elsie is still ahead, with 2,236 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Elsie against Elsworth, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Elsie Elsworth

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

Elsie 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 1983, when Elsie had 103 and Elsworth had 5.

Side by side

  Elsie Elsworth
Total US births 190,958829
Most in one year 5,22140
Babies in 2025 2,236under 5
Estimated living today 44,000120
Median age today 2974
Peak year 19181917
Best rank 49th girls1,033rd boys
Rank in 2025 123rdunranked
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 190,072 / 8860 / 829

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 Elsworths alive today are over 74; half the Elsies are over 29. That is 45 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: Elsie and Elsworth.