Humanverse

Ember vs Emberlynn

American parents have registered 23,072 Embers since 1880, against 2,961 Emberlynns. Ember is still ahead, with 1,988 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Ember Emberlynn

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

Ember has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1946 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2023, when Ember had 1,749 and Emberlynn had 354.

Side by side

  Ember Emberlynn
Total US births 23,0722,961
Most in one year 2,222354
Babies in 2025 1,988281
Estimated living today 23,0002,900
Median age today 64
Peak year 20242023
Best rank 135th girls797th girls
Rank in 2025 154th928th
First recorded 19462003
Girls / boys 22,646 / 4262,961 / 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 Embers alive today are over 6; half the Emberlynns are over 4. That is 2 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: Ember and Emberlynn.