Head to head · Girls' names
Adaline vs Bailey
#208 vs #208 in 2025
Adaline and Bailey share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#208). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Adaline and Bailey each lead 2 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Adaline #495, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1890s: Adaline #657, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1900s: Adaline #760, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1910s: Adaline #830, Bailey #3919 — Adaline higher
- 1920s: Adaline #1067, Bailey #4426 — Adaline higher
- 1930s: Adaline #2068, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1940s: Adaline #3230, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1950s: Adaline #4231, Bailey #5952 — Adaline higher
- 1960s: Adaline #4961, Bailey — — Adaline higher
- 1970s: Adaline #8060, Bailey #7287 — Bailey higher
- 1980s: Adaline #8584, Bailey #812 — Bailey higher
- 1990s: Adaline #6949, Bailey #127 — Bailey higher
- 2000s: Adaline #2963, Bailey #89 — Bailey higher
- 2010s: Adaline #889, Bailey #109 — Bailey higher
- 2020s: Adaline #236, Bailey #180 — Bailey higher
Adaline stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Bailey has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Adaline | Bailey |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #495 | — |
| 1890s | #657 | — |
| 1900s | #760 | — |
| 1910s | #830 | #3919 |
| 1920s | #1067 | #4426 |
| 1930s | #2068 | — |
| 1940s | #3230 | — |
| 1950s | #4231 | #5952 |
| 1960s | #4961 | — |
| 1970s | #8060 | #7287 |
| 1980s | #8584 | #812 |
| 1990s | #6949 | #127 |
| 2000s | #2963 | #89 |
| 2010s | #889 | #109 |
| 2020s | #236 | #180 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Adaline
noble
The root is Germanic adal, "noble", the same element behind Adela, Adele and Adelina; Adaline and Adeline are Latinate diminutive forms of it.
Adal → Adela → Adelina → Adeline → Adaline
How it traveled
The story begins with the Germanic name element adal, "noble", which produced short names like Adela and Adala among the Frankish nobility. Latin writers extended these into Adelina, and Norman French carried Adeline into England after the Conquest, where it stayed in use through the medieval period.
Bailey
'bailiff, steward' or 'outer castle wall, enclosure'
Two solid readings sit behind the surname. One is occupational: Middle English baili, from Old French bailli, a bailiff or steward — a man who managed an estate or represented a lord. The other is topographic: the bailey, the enclosed courtyard between a castle's keep and its outer wall, from Old French baille. A third, narrower source is English place names such as Bailey in Lancashire. Any given family line could descend from any of them.
baille / bailli (Old French) → baili (Middle English) → Bailey (English surname) → Bailey (given name)
How it traveled
The word came into English from Norman French after the Conquest, in both its senses — the official and the walled enclosure — and by the later Middle Ages it had settled into English family names. As a surname it spread widely through England and Ireland, and from there across the Atlantic, where American parents did what they have long done with British surnames: moved it to the front of the name.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Adaline
AD-uh-line
The most common American reading rhymes the last syllable with "line". Some families say AD-uh-lin, and the -leen ending belongs more to Adelina. Whichever you choose, expect to state it once when introducing her.
- Addie — The most-used short form for both Adaline and Adeline; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Ada — A complete given name with its own separate history, used here as a shortening.
- Lina — Takes the back half of the name; also an independent given name in several European languages.
- Addy — The same short form with a different spelling; common in informal writing.
- Also Dell.
Bailey
BAY-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The main spelling gives the sound away, so strangers rarely mispronounce it — even if they hesitate over how it is spelled.
- Bails — The most common informal shortening among friends and family; rarely written down.
- Bay — Used casually at home; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- B — Initial-only address, common among classmates and siblings.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Adaline if you want…
- a name on the way upup 79 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAdaline runs 3 syllables, Bailey 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Addie, Ada and Lina
- a long American recordAdaline was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Bailey if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBailey is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesBailey is 2 syllables to Adaline's 3
- a newer arrivalBailey entered the US charts in 1916
- a name that feels very nowBailey is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Adaline
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Addie and Ada, both of which also work as full names on a document.
- The meaning is settled and simple: noble, from the Germanic root adal.
- Recognizable to most English speakers through the near-twin spelling Adeline, so it is never an unfamiliar shape.
To consider
- The A-versus-E problem is permanent. Adeline is the better-known spelling, and Adaline will be written back at her as Adeline, Adalyn or Adelyn for life. Nothing serious, but it means spelling it out often.
- The final syllable has no single agreed sound — AD-uh-line and AD-uh-lin both circulate — so people will guess, and sometimes guess differently.
- It is climbing, and quickly. A name that feels uncommon now may be considerably more familiar by the time she starts school; the Addie/Adalyn/Adeline cluster is busy overall.
Bailey
Strengths
- Spelled as it sounds: almost no one reads BAY-lee wrong on first sight.
- Over a century on American birth records, with bearers now spanning several generations — recognizable to anyone, at any age.
- Works for a girl or a boy from the same surname root, with no separate history to explain.
To consider
- Bailee, Baylee, Bayleigh and Baileigh all exist, so the question 'how do you spell that?' will follow the name through school, work and paperwork.
- Baileys Irish Cream is a household brand, and Bailey is a very popular dog name in the US. Neither is a serious problem, but expect the occasional joke.
- In American records the spelling reads overwhelmingly female. A boy named Bailey may be assumed a girl on forms and rosters until he is met in person.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Adaline
52%chance Adaline feels dated by 2040
Adaline is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Bailey
73%chance Bailey feels dated by 2040
Bailey is coming down from a big peak (#60 in 1998). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Adaline and Bailey in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Adaline and Bailey?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- Names ending in -ine / -een
- One-decade wonders
- Names ending in -ley / -lee / -leigh
- all guides
Where Adaline and Bailey each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Adaline or Bailey — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Adaline or Bailey?
- They tie in 2025: Adaline ranked #208 with 1,446 babies; Bailey ranked #208 with 1,446 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Adaline or Bailey?
- Adaline. Over the last five years Adaline moved up 79 places; Bailey moved down 36 places.
- Which is the older name, Adaline or Bailey?
- Adaline was already in use when US records began in 1880; Bailey entered the US charts in 1916. On the American record, Adaline is the older name.
- How many people are named Adaline and Bailey?
- About 17,000 people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 110,000 people named Bailey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Adalines or Baileys in the classroom?
- Adaline will almost certainly be the only one in school. Bailey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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