Humanverse

Oran vs Orange

American parents have registered 4,447 Orans since 1880, against 616 Oranges. Oran is still ahead, with 19 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Oran against Orange, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Oran Orange

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 146 years in which either name was published, Oran for 138 years and Orange for 8 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Oran Orange
Total US births 4,447616
Most in one year 10425
Babies in 2025 19under 5
Estimated living today 1,80070
Median age today 4878
Peak year 19221920
Best rank 633rd boys1,747th boys
Rank in 2025 5,045thunranked
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 0 / 4,44718 / 598

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 Oranges alive today are over 78; half the Orans are over 48. That is 30 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: Oran and Orange.