Humanverse

Holland vs Holton

American parents have registered 11,007 Hollands since 1880, against 1,060 Holtons. Holland is still ahead, with 686 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Holland against Holton, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Holland Holton

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

Holland has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1888 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1936, when Holland had 17 and Holton had 7.

Side by side

  Holland Holton
Total US births 11,0071,060
Most in one year 68651
Babies in 2025 68640
Estimated living today 9,900960
Median age today 912
Peak year 20252021
Best rank 549th girls2,552nd boys
Rank in 2025 549th3,036th
First recorded 18881914
Girls / boys 7,835 / 3,1720 / 1,060

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 Holtons alive today are over 12; half the Hollands are over 9. That is 3 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: Holland and Holton.