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Lovella vs Lovey

American parents have registered 1,735 Lovellas since 1880, against 859 Loveys. Lovella is still ahead, with 32 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lovella against Lovey, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lovella Lovey

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 119 years in which either name was published, Lovella for 94 years and Lovey for 25 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Lovella Lovey
Total US births 1,735859
Most in one year 3922
Babies in 2025 3222
Estimated living today 840380
Median age today 5140
Peak year 19201925
Best rank 1,233rd girls1,847th girls
Rank in 2025 4,352nd5,554th
First recorded 18881883
Girls / boys 1,735 / 0859 / 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 Lovellas alive today are over 51; half the Loveys are over 40. That is 11 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: Lovella and Lovey.