Noland vs Nolen
American parents have registered 3,458 Nolens since 1880, against 1,778 Nolands. Nolen is still ahead, with 58 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Noland Nolen
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 119 years in which either name was published, Nolen for 83 years and Noland for 36 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.
- 1892–1952 Nolen ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1953–1978 Noland ahead
- 1983–1986 Nolen ahead
- 1987–1990 Noland ahead
- 1996–2025 Nolen ahead
9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Noland | Nolen | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,778 | 3,458 |
| Most in one year | 37 | 110 |
| Babies in 2025 | 23 | 58 |
| Estimated living today | 1,300 | 2,600 |
| Median age today | 35 | 16 |
| Peak year | 2021 | 2009 |
| Best rank | 3,180th boys | 1,511th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 4,396th | 2,363rd |
| First recorded | 1912 | 1892 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,778 | 10 / 3,448 |
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 Nolens are over 16. That is 19 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: Noland and Nolen.