Humanverse

Graham vs Gralin

American parents have registered 61,671 Grahams since 1880, against 49 Gralins. Graham is still ahead, with 2,980 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Graham against Gralin, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Graham Gralin

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

Graham has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1954, when Graham had 92 and Gralin had 8.

Side by side

  Graham Gralin
Total US births 61,67149
Most in one year 2,9809
Babies in 2025 2,980under 5
Estimated living today 57,00040
Median age today 1268
Peak year 20251977
Best rank 120th boys3,836th boys
Rank in 2025 120thunranked
First recorded 18811954
Girls / boys 235 / 61,4360 / 49

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 Gralins alive today are over 68; half the Grahams are over 12. That is 56 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: Graham and Gralin.