Humanverse

Irelyn vs Irelynn

American parents have registered 1,740 Irelynns since 1880, against 1,594 Irelyns. Irelynn is still ahead, with 42 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Irelyn Irelynn

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 29 years in which either name was published, Irelynn for 18 years and Irelyn for 11 years. The lead changed hands 7 times.

Side by side

  Irelyn Irelynn
Total US births 1,5941,740
Most in one year 176111
Babies in 2025 3242
Estimated living today 1,6001,700
Median age today 1311
Peak year 20082008
Best rank 1,368th girls1,903rd girls
Rank in 2025 4,352nd3,577th
First recorded 19961998
Girls / boys 1,594 / 01,740 / 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 Irelyns alive today are over 13; half the Irelynns are over 11. That is 2 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: Irelyn and Irelynn.