Humanverse

Glenda vs Gleora

American parents have registered 109,522 Glendas since 1880, against 14 Gleoras. Glenda is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Glenda against Gleora, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Glenda Gleora

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

Glenda has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1900 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1938, when Glenda had 1,969 and Gleora had 14.

Side by side

  Glenda Gleora
Total US births 109,52214
Most in one year 4,22414
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 77,0005
Median age today 7187
Peak year 19501938
Best rank 87th girls2,225th girls
Rank in 2025 5,917thunranked
First recorded 19001938
Girls / boys 109,227 / 29514 / 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 Gleoras alive today are over 87; half the Glendas are over 71. That is 16 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: Glenda and Gleora.