Humanverse

Lathan vs Latonya

American parents have registered 21,824 Latonyas since 1880, against 4,289 Lathans. But in 2025 it was Lathan that was commoner, 48 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lathan against Latonya, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lathan Latonya

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 111 years in which either name was published, Lathan for 68 years and Latonya for 43 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Lathan Latonya
Total US births 4,28921,824
Most in one year 2141,296
Babies in 2025 48under 5
Estimated living today 3,90021,000
Median age today 1549
Peak year 20111974
Best rank 932nd boys197th girls
Rank in 2025 2,676thunranked
First recorded 19121951
Girls / boys 0 / 4,28921,757 / 67

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 Latonyas alive today are over 49; half the Lathans are over 15. That is 34 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: Lathan and Latonya.