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Nolan vs Noland

American parents have registered 136,061 Nolans since 1880, against 1,778 Nolands. Nolan is still ahead, with 4,865 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nolan Noland

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

Nolan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1965, when Nolan had 112 and Noland had 23.

Side by side

  Nolan Noland
Total US births 136,0611,778
Most in one year 5,75737
Babies in 2025 4,86523
Estimated living today 128,0001,300
Median age today 1235
Peak year 20152021
Best rank 71st boys3,180th boys
Rank in 2025 65th4,396th
First recorded 18811912
Girls / boys 556 / 135,5050 / 1,778

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 Nolands alive today are over 35; half the Nolans are over 12. That is 23 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: Nolan and Noland.