Humanverse

Neale vs Nealie

American parents have registered 920 Neales since 1880, against 793 Nealies. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Neale against Nealie, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Neale Nealie

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 118 years in which either name was published, Neale for 67 years and Nealie for 51 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Neale Nealie
Total US births 920793
Most in one year 2822
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 410120
Median age today 6255
Peak year 19371916
Best rank 1,265th boys1,630th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19161880
Girls / boys 5 / 915776 / 17

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 Neales alive today are over 62; half the Nealies are over 55. That is 7 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: Neale and Nealie.