Humanverse

Randal vs Randolf

American parents have registered 29,324 Randals since 1880, against 972 Randolfs. Randal is still ahead, with 18 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Randal against Randolf, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Randal Randolf

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

Randal has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1909 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1939, when Randal had 52 and Randolf had 9.

Side by side

  Randal Randolf
Total US births 29,324972
Most in one year 1,47762
Babies in 2025 18under 5
Estimated living today 23,000720
Median age today 6264
Peak year 19581955
Best rank 189th boys949th boys
Rank in 2025 5,208thunranked
First recorded 19091939
Girls / boys 132 / 29,1920 / 972

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 Randolfs alive today are over 64; half the Randals are over 62. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Randal and Randolf.