Humanverse

Mehlani vs Mehmet

American parents have registered 837 Mehmets since 1880, against 482 Mehlanis. But in 2025 it was Mehlani that was commoner, 34 babies to 19.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Mehlani Mehmet

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 45 years in which either name was published, Mehmet for 37 years and Mehlani for 8 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Mehlani Mehmet
Total US births 482837
Most in one year 8542
Babies in 2025 3419
Estimated living today 480820
Median age today 414
Peak year 20232015
Best rank 2,210th girls2,809th boys
Rank in 2025 4,172nd5,045th
First recorded 20161960
Girls / boys 482 / 00 / 837

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 Mehmets alive today are over 14; half the Mehlanis are over 4. That is 10 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: Mehlani and Mehmet.