Humanverse

Erlene vs Erline

American parents have registered 2,332 Erlenes since 1880, against 1,640 Erlines. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Erlene against Erline, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Erlene Erline

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 87 years in which either name was published, Erlene for 61 years and Erline for 26 years. The lead changed hands 26 times.

21 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Erlene Erline
Total US births 2,3321,640
Most in one year 7472
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 780350
Median age today 7675
Peak year 19301927
Best rank 824th girls874th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19031897
Girls / boys 2,332 / 01,640 / 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.

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: Erlene and Erline.