Humanverse

Sayler vs Sayward

American parents have registered 913 Saylers since 1880, against 117 Saywards. Sayler is still ahead, with 53 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Sayler Sayward

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 36 years in which either name was published, Sayler for 28 years and Sayward for 8 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Sayler Sayward
Total US births 913117
Most in one year 7329
Babies in 2025 53under 5
Estimated living today 910110
Median age today 845
Peak year 20201981
Best rank 2,779th girls2,986th girls
Rank in 2025 3,249thunranked
First recorded 19921978
Girls / boys 854 / 59117 / 0

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 Saywards alive today are over 45; half the Saylers are over 8. That is 37 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: Sayler and Sayward.