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Makaiya vs Makayla

American parents have registered 108,183 Makaylas since 1880, against 525 Makaiyas. Makayla is still ahead, with 530 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Makaiya against Makayla, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Makaiya Makayla

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

Makayla has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1971 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2024, when Makaiya had 14 and Makayla had 562.

Side by side

  Makaiya Makayla
Total US births 525108,183
Most in one year 445,963
Babies in 2025 7530
Estimated living today 520107,000
Median age today 1619
Peak year 20072008
Best rank 3,653rd girls37th girls
Rank in 2025 11,932nd566th
First recorded 19991971
Girls / boys 525 / 0108,030 / 153

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 Makaylas alive today are over 19; half the Makaiyas are over 16. That is 3 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: Makaiya and Makayla.