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Wilbur vs Wiltz

American parents have registered 57,196 Wilburs since 1880, against 7 Wiltzes. Wilbur is still ahead, with 27 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Wilbur against Wiltz, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Wilbur Wiltz

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

Wilbur has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1940, when Wilbur had 711 and Wiltz had 7.

Side by side

  Wilbur Wiltz
Total US births 57,1967
Most in one year 1,8097
Babies in 2025 27under 5
Estimated living today 12,0002
Median age today 6985
Peak year 19181940
Best rank 97th boys2,871st boys
Rank in 2025 3,949thunranked
First recorded 18801940
Girls / boys 290 / 56,9060 / 7

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 Wiltzes alive today are over 85; half the Wilburs are over 69. That is 16 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: Wilbur and Wiltz.