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West vs Westly

American parents have registered 3,720 Wests since 1880, against 941 Westlys. West is still ahead, with 167 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: West against Westly, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

West Westly

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, West for 136 years and Westly for 10 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  West Westly
Total US births 3,720941
Most in one year 16724
Babies in 2025 16715
Estimated living today 2,500760
Median age today 1334
Peak year 20251980
Best rank 1,252nd boys2,162nd boys
Rank in 2025 1,252nd5,861st
First recorded 18801918
Girls / boys 28 / 3,6920 / 941

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 Westlys alive today are over 34; half the Wests are over 13. That is 21 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: West and Westly.