Rare names that have lasted a century
Social Security lists a name for a year only when at least five babies of a sex get it, so a name on the list in every year from 1926 to 2025 has been in steady use for a hundred years. 958 girls’ names and 1,155 boys’ names were, and most had big years: the typical one, at the median, peaked at 1,037 girls or 741 boys in a single year. Only 18 girls’ names and 42 boys’ names were never given to more than 50 babies of their sex in any year.
Flavia is the rarest of the girls’ names: 1,351 girls in 100 years and never more than 30 in one year. Basilio is the rarest of the boys’ names, at most 28 boys a year and 1,613 in all. Neomi, Irena, Lanora and Signe for girls, and Eligio, Niels, Serafin, Laurent and Jens for boys, are on the same short list. The table gives each name’s busiest year, its total and its 2025 count.
Popular names that became rare
Some of the most familiar names are rare among babies now. Debra was the second most popular girls’ name of 1956; 31 girls got it in 2025. Carol (#4 in 1941), Donna (#5 in 1959), Mildred and Doris (both #6, in 1912 and 1929) went to fewer than 100 girls each. In all, 137 girls’ names that were once in the top 100 went to fewer than 100 girls in 2025.
Fewer boys’ names made the same fall: 47. Many are nicknames given as full names, such as Fred (#14 in 1885, 80 boys in 2025), Tom, Jim, Bill and Bob (7 boys in 2025). Others are shared with presidents: Grover was #20 in 1884 and went to 24 boys in 2025.
How rare can a name be?
In 2025 Social Security published 17,297 girls’ names and 13,930 boys’ names. 2,356 girls’ names and 1,923 boys’ names were given to exactly five babies, the fewest it publishes. A name given to fewer is left out, so a one-of-a-kind name never appears in these records. About 17% of girls and 13% of boys born in 2025 got a name that fewer than 100 babies of their sex shared.
How rare is your name?
Look up any first name in the first-name tool to see how many babies got it in any year from 1880 to 2025, its rank that year and an estimate of how many living Americans share it. The most common names rank the other end of the list, and the rare last names do the same for surnames in the 2010 Census.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is an exact count from the Social Security Administration’s national baby-name files for 1880–2025, released in May 2026, the same records as the name tool. Ranks count every name given to one sex in a year, as Social Security ranks its own lists; ties share a rank. The methodology has the rules for each list.
Good questions
What are some rare names?
Names in use for a century that never became common: Flavia, Neomi, Irena, Lanora, Signe and Phebe for girls; Basilio, Eligio, Niels, Serafin, Laurent and Jens for boys. Each was given every year from 1926 to 2025, never to more than 50 babies of its sex in a year. Once-popular names are rare again too: Debra went to 31 girls in 2025.
What are the rarest names?
The rarest names in U.S. records are given to five babies of a sex in a year, the fewest Social Security publishes: 2,356 girls’ names and 1,923 boys’ names in 2025. Among names with a long history, Flavia and Basilio were given every year from 1926 to 2025 without ever passing 30 babies in a year.
What is the rarest name in the world?
No record counts first names worldwide, so no one can say. In U.S. records the rarest names that can be seen are given to five babies in a year; names given to fewer, including one-of-a-kind names, are not published.