Mahala vs Mahlon

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Mahala Mahlon

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 146 years in which either name was published, Mahlon for 107 years and Mahala for 39 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.

• 1881–1909 Mahala ahead, apart from 2 short spells
• 1910–1996 Mahlon ahead
• 1997–2009 Mahala ahead
• 2010–2025 Mahlon ahead, apart from one short spell

6 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

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 Mahlons alive today are over 34; half the Mahalas are over 23. That is 11 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Mahala Kentucky (16.7×), Ohio (7.0×), North Carolina (2.9×)
• Mahlon Pennsylvania (11.1×), Indiana (3.0×), Ohio (2.9×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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