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Frankie vs Franklen

American parents have registered 79,430 Frankies since 1880, against 58 Franklens. Frankie is still ahead, with 805 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Frankie against Franklen, 1880 to 2025 0 300 600 900 1.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Frankie Franklen

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

Frankie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1989, when Frankie had 489 and Franklen had 6.

Side by side

  Frankie Franklen
Total US births 79,43058
Most in one year 1,1989
Babies in 2025 805under 5
Estimated living today 50,00020
Median age today 5374
Peak year 19591933
Best rank 268th boys2,542nd boys
Rank in 2025 920thunranked
First recorded 18801933
Girls / boys 37,162 / 42,2680 / 58

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 Franklens alive today are over 74; half the Frankies are over 53. That is 21 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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