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Mackenzie vs Ava

How Mackenzie and Ava 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

Mackenzie

Female · Celtic

Meaning: Child Of The Wise Leader

Ava

Female · English

Meaning: Variant Of Medieval Given Names Avis And Aveline

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Mackenzie (girls) vs Ava (girls), 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 Mackenzie Ava
Peak year (most US births) 2001 — 6,934 girls 2007 — 18,053 girls
Peak rank #40 #4
Most recent rank (2025) #228 (1,343 births) #11 (7,732 births)
Total US births since 1880 124,414 323,669
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 22,999 125,221

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Ava reached 18,053 US births in 2007 — 11,119 more than Mackenzie'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 Mackenzie births Ava births
2003 Ava 5,865 6,280

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.

Mackenzie — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 New Hampshire #56 176
2 Connecticut #61 394
3 New Jersey #65 996
4 Massachusetts #71 709
5 Rhode Island #75 106

Ava — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Mississippi #1 1,585
2 Georgia #2 4,911
3 Alabama #2 2,308
4 South Carolina #3 2,038
5 North Carolina #3 4,560

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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 →