Humanverse

Erla vs Erlinda

American parents have registered 4,656 Erlindas since 1880, against 934 Erlas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Erla against Erlinda, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Erla Erlinda

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

Of the 120 years in which either name was published, Erlinda for 107 years and Erla for 13 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.

Side by side

  Erla Erlinda
Total US births 9344,656
Most in one year 35171
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 2502,900
Median age today 7767
Peak year 19241949
Best rank 1,382nd girls632nd girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 18891900
Girls / boys 934 / 04,656 / 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 Erlas alive today are over 77; half the Erlindas are over 67. That is 10 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: Erla and Erlinda.