Waldo vs Walt

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Waldo Walt

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, Waldo for 104 years and Walt for 42 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.

• 1880–1943 Waldo ahead
• 1944–1947 Walt ahead
• 1948–1956 Waldo ahead
• 1957–1973 Walt ahead
• 1982–2005 Waldo ahead
• 2009–2025 Walt ahead

8 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 Waldos alive today are over 59; half the Walts are over 53. That is 6 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Waldo Minnesota (4.1×), Iowa (4.1×), West Virginia (3.2×)
• Walt California (3.6×), Washington (3.2×), Pennsylvania (3.0×)

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

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