Humanverse

Ethan vs Etheleen

American parents have registered 488,144 Ethans since 1880, against 584 Etheleens. Ethan is still ahead, with 7,859 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ethan against Etheleen, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ethan Etheleen

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 126 years in which either name was published, Ethan for 123 years and Etheleen for 3 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Ethan Etheleen
Total US births 488,144584
Most in one year 22,33629
Babies in 2025 7,859under 5
Estimated living today 479,000120
Median age today 1879
Peak year 20041925
Best rank 5th boys1,535th girls
Rank in 2025 24thunranked
First recorded 18821909
Girls / boys 755 / 487,389584 / 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 Etheleens alive today are over 79; half the Ethans are over 18. That is 61 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: Ethan and Etheleen.