Humanverse

Waylon vs Wayman

American parents have registered 55,338 Waylons since 1880, against 2,850 Waymans. Waylon is still ahead, with 5,425 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Waylon against Wayman, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Waylon Wayman

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 134 years in which either name was published, Wayman for 74 years and Waylon for 60 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Waylon Wayman
Total US births 55,3382,850
Most in one year 5,42559
Babies in 2025 5,425under 5
Estimated living today 54,0001,200
Median age today 563
Peak year 20251950
Best rank 56th boys893rd boys
Rank in 2025 56thunranked
First recorded 19111884
Girls / boys 290 / 55,0480 / 2,850

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 Waymans alive today are over 63; half the Waylons are over 5. That is 58 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: Waylon and Wayman.