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Lionell vs Lior

American parents have registered 1,613 Lionells since 1880, against 1,209 Liors. But in 2025 it was Lior that was commoner, 93 babies to 7.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lionell against Lior, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lionell Lior

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 107 years in which either name was published, Lionell for 76 years and Lior for 31 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Lionell Lior
Total US births 1,6131,209
Most in one year 3693
Babies in 2025 793
Estimated living today 1,2001,200
Median age today 509
Peak year 19602025
Best rank 1,320th boys1,959th boys
Rank in 2025 9,714th1,959th
First recorded 19151969
Girls / boys 0 / 1,613326 / 883

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 Lionells alive today are over 50; half the Liors are over 9. That is 41 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: Lionell and Lior.