Humanverse

Nolan vs Nolin

American parents have registered 136,061 Nolans since 1880, against 507 Nolins. Nolan is still ahead, with 4,865 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nolan Nolin

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 1918, when Nolan had 132 and Nolin had 9.

Side by side

  Nolan Nolin
Total US births 136,061507
Most in one year 5,75724
Babies in 2025 4,86510
Estimated living today 128,000480
Median age today 1214
Peak year 20152011
Best rank 71st boys4,110th boys
Rank in 2025 65th7,679th
First recorded 18811918
Girls / boys 556 / 135,5050 / 507

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 Nolins alive today are over 14; half the Nolans are over 12. That is 2 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 Nolin.