Etha vs Ethyl

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Etha Ethyl

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 89 years in which either name was published, Ethyl for 58 years and Etha for 31 years. The lead changed hands 24 times.

• 1882–1931 Ethyl ahead, apart from 4 short spells
• 1935–1937 Etha ahead
• 1941–1943 Ethyl ahead
• 1953–1973 Etha ahead, apart from one short spell

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

Side by side

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 Ethyls alive today are over 79; half the Ethas are over 76. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Etha Mississippi (18.2×), Alabama (6.3×), Texas (4.0×)
• Ethyl Pennsylvania (6.5×), Illinois (3.2×), Ohio (2.2×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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