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Franklin vs Mason

How Franklin and Mason 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

Franklin

Male · English

Meaning: Free Man: Landholder.

Mason

Male · French

Meaning: Stone Worker

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Franklin (boys) vs Mason (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 Franklin Mason
Peak year (most US births) 1933 — 5,363 boys 2011 — 19,528 boys
Peak rank #33 #2
Most recent rank (2025) #359 (909 births) #39 (6,291 births)
Total US births since 1880 43,586 310,019
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 7,720 100,150

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Mason reached 19,528 US births in 2011 — 14,165 more than Franklin'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 Franklin births Mason births
1997 Mason 0 4,268

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 boys-name list.

Franklin — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 District of Columbia #187 21
2 Minnesota #203 293
3 Maine #237 16
4 Wisconsin #250 234
5 West Virginia #312 24

Mason — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Mississippi #8 1,093
2 West Virginia #9 732
3 Pennsylvania #11 4,279
4 North Carolina #11 3,574
5 Hawaii #12 359

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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 →