Humanverse

Nala vs Nalleli

American parents have registered 6,138 Nalas since 1880, against 558 Nallelis. Nala is still ahead, with 317 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nala against Nalleli, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nala Nalleli

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 43 years in which either name was published, Nala for 32 years and Nalleli for 11 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Nala Nalleli
Total US births 6,138558
Most in one year 42877
Babies in 2025 317under 5
Estimated living today 6,100550
Median age today 824
Peak year 20192001
Best rank 675th girls2,126th girls
Rank in 2025 856thunranked
First recorded 19791984
Girls / boys 6,138 / 0558 / 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 Nallelis alive today are over 24; half the Nalas are over 8. That is 16 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: Nala and Nalleli.