Humanverse

Virgie vs Virgil

American parents have registered 73,453 Virgils since 1880, against 22,468 Virgies. Virgil is still ahead, with 129 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Virgie against Virgil, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Virgie Virgil

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, Virgil for 122 years and Virgie for 24 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Virgie Virgil
Total US births 22,46873,453
Most in one year 5811,869
Babies in 2025 under 5129
Estimated living today 4,10023,000
Median age today 7664
Peak year 19181921
Best rank 266th girls98th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,409th
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 21,800 / 6681,444 / 72,009

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 Virgies alive today are over 76; half the Virgils are over 64. That is 12 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: Virgie and Virgil.