Humanverse

Orla vs Orlean

American parents have registered 1,485 Orlas since 1880, against 565 Orleans. Orla is still ahead, with 70 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Orla against Orlean, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Orla Orlean

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 105 years in which either name was published, Orla for 71 years and Orlean for 34 years. The lead changed hands 30 times.

22 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

  Orla Orlean
Total US births 1,485565
Most in one year 7130
Babies in 2025 70under 5
Estimated living today 94090
Median age today 979
Peak year 20241921
Best rank 2,508th girls1,668th girls
Rank in 2025 2,514thunranked
First recorded 18801896
Girls / boys 1,199 / 286543 / 22

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 Orleans alive today are over 79; half the Orlas are over 9. That is 70 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: Orla and Orlean.