Humanverse

Winnefred vs Winona

American parents have registered 12,953 Winonas since 1880, against 49 Winnefreds. Winona is still ahead, with 466 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Winnefred against Winona, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Winnefred Winona

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

Winona 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 1916, when Winnefred had 11 and Winona had 219.

Side by side

  Winnefred Winona
Total US births 4912,953
Most in one year 11466
Babies in 2025 under 5466
Estimated living today 16,100
Median age today 9745
Peak year 19162025
Best rank 2,658th girls627th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked627th
First recorded 19161880
Girls / boys 49 / 012,953 / 0

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 Winnefreds alive today are over 97; half the Winonas are over 45. That is 52 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: Winnefred and Winona.