Wava vs Waverly
American parents have registered 6,550 Waverlys since 1880, against 1,727 Wavas. Waverly is still ahead, with 244 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Wava Waverly
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 138 years in which either name was published, Waverly for 97 years and Wava for 41 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.
Side by side
| Wava | Waverly | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,727 | 6,550 |
| Most in one year | 60 | 387 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 244 |
| Estimated living today | 360 | 5,300 |
| Median age today | 78 | 8 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 2022 |
| Best rank | 985th girls | 753rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,027th |
| First recorded | 1892 | 1881 |
| Girls / boys | 1,727 / 0 | 4,563 / 1,987 |
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 Wavas alive today are over 78; half the Waverlys are over 8. That is 70 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Wava Iowa (9.8×), Indiana (6.1×), Michigan (6.0×)
- Waverly Virginia (10.0×), North Carolina (2.6×), Tennessee (1.9×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Wava and Waverly.