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Lonel vs Lonnie

American parents have registered 101,481 Lonnies since 1880, against 6 Lonels. Lonnie is still ahead, with 109 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lonel against Lonnie, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lonel Lonnie

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

Lonnie 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 1932, when Lonel had 6 and Lonnie had 826.

Side by side

  Lonel Lonnie
Total US births 6101,481
Most in one year 62,237
Babies in 2025 under 5109
Estimated living today 057,000
Median age today 9362
Peak year 19321947
Best rank 3,361st boys137th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,837th
First recorded 19321880
Girls / boys 0 / 66,995 / 94,486

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 Lonels alive today are over 93; half the Lonnies are over 62. That is 31 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: Lonel and Lonnie.