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Myrtle vs Evelyn

How Myrtle and Evelyn 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

Myrtle

Female · Greek

Meaning: Myrtle

Evelyn

Female · Celtic

Meaning: Light

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Myrtle (girls) vs Evelyn (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 Myrtle Evelyn
Peak year (most US births) 1918 — 4,076 girls 1921 — 14,278 girls
Peak rank #62 #12
Most recent rank (1925) #95 (2,980 births) #8 (9,123 births)
Total US births since 1880 100,503 555,984
Last 10 years (1916–1925) 36,792 97,423

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Evelyn reached 14,278 US births in 1921 — 10,202 more than Myrtle'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 Myrtle births Evelyn births
1906 Evelyn 1,921 2,077

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.

Myrtle — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 North Carolina #80 895
2 Tennessee #81 223
3 Kentucky #83 597
4 Louisiana #87 190
5 West Virginia #90 190

Evelyn — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Minnesota #3 2,360
2 Wisconsin #3 2,223
3 Oregon #4 1,348
4 Iowa #4 1,220
5 Idaho #4 719

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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 →