Whitman vs Whitney

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Whitman Whitney

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

Whitney has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1909, when Whitman had 5 and Whitney had 13.

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 Whitneys alive today are over 36; half the Whitmans are over 12. That is 24 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

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