Nilda vs Niles

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Nilda Niles

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, Niles for 87 years and Nilda for 31 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.

• 1897–1945 Niles ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1952–1979 Nilda ahead, apart from one short spell
• 1980–2025 Niles ahead, apart from one short spell

7 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 Nildas alive today are over 60; half the Nileses are over 31. That is 29 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Nilda New York (8.5×), New Jersey (2.9×), Texas (1.8×)
• Niles California (3.3×), New York (3.2×), Pennsylvania (2.2×)

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

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