Humanverse

Fonda vs Fontella

American parents have registered 4,113 Fondas since 1880, against 589 Fontellas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Fonda Fontella

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 90 years in which either name was published, Fonda for 82 years and Fontella for 8 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Fonda Fontella
Total US births 4,113589
Most in one year 181104
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 3,100340
Median age today 6259
Peak year 19631966
Best rank 764th girls1,011th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19101900
Girls / boys 4,113 / 0589 / 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 Fondas alive today are over 62; half the Fontellas are over 59. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Fonda and Fontella.