Pecola vs Pecolia

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Pecola Pecolia

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 65 years in which either name was published, Pecola for 52 years and Pecolia for 13 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.

• 1900–1939 Pecola ahead, apart from 3 short spells
• 1943–1945 Pecolia ahead
• 1946–1987 Pecola ahead, apart from one short spell

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

Side by side

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 Pecolias alive today are over 77; half the Pecolas are over 75. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Pecola Georgia (21.6×), Alabama (16.5×)
• Pecolia North Carolina (27.6×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

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