Humanverse

Lena vs Lendora

American parents have registered 146,805 Lenas since 1880, against 125 Lendoras. Lena is still ahead, with 1,106 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Lena Lendora

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

Lena has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1954, when Lena had 589 and Lendora had 11.

Side by side

  Lena Lendora
Total US births 146,805125
Most in one year 3,01511
Babies in 2025 1,106under 5
Estimated living today 53,00060
Median age today 3369
Peak year 19171954
Best rank 85th girls3,490th girls
Rank in 2025 279thunranked
First recorded 18801918
Girls / boys 146,479 / 326125 / 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 Lendoras alive today are over 69; half the Lenas are over 33. That is 36 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: Lena and Lendora.