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Ellen vs Lucas

How Ellen and Lucas compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Ellen

Male · Anglo

Meaning: Courage

Lucas

Male · Gaelic

Meaning: Light

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Ellen (girls) vs Lucas (boys), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Ellen Lucas
Peak year (most US births) 1951 — 5,945 girls 2017 — 13,029 boys
Peak rank #68 #11
Most recent rank (2021) #920 (289 births) #10 (10,219 births)
Total US births since 1880 204,600 290,284
Last 10 years (2012–2021) 3,781 116,799

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Lucas reached 13,029 US births in 2017 — 7,084 more than Ellen's peak count.

Crossover Years

Years where one name first passed the other in annual US births. A name "winning" in a year means it had more births that year, not necessarily a higher rank.

Year New leader Ellen births Lucas births
1980 Lucas 0 3,081

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name list.

Ellen — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Kansas #512 19
2 Iowa #541 23
3 Utah #542 46
4 Minnesota #572 60
5 Oregon #615 28

Lucas — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Florida #3 8,933
2 New York #4 8,253
3 New Jersey #4 3,983
4 Maryland #6 2,113
5 Connecticut #6 1,403

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →