Head to head · Girls' names
Addison vs Autumn
#84 vs #88 in 2025
Addison is a whisker ahead (#84 vs #88 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Addison is stepping back from its peak, Autumn is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Autumn has the edge.
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
On the charts, Addison leads 4 measures of 6; Autumn leads 1.
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
- 1910s: Addison —, Autumn #3147 — Autumn higher
- 1920s: Addison —, Autumn #4003 — Autumn higher
- 1930s: Addison —, Autumn #2835 — Autumn higher
- 1940s: Addison —, Autumn #3415 — Autumn higher
- 1950s: Addison —, Autumn #1979 — Autumn higher
- 1960s: Addison —, Autumn #1104 — Autumn higher
- 1970s: Addison —, Autumn #397 — Autumn higher
- 1980s: Addison #5238, Autumn #197 — Autumn higher
- 1990s: Addison #913, Autumn #124 — Autumn higher
- 2000s: Addison #133, Autumn #82 — Autumn higher
- 2010s: Addison #25, Autumn #72 — Addison higher
- 2020s: Addison #60, Autumn #77 — Addison higher
Autumn stood higher in 10 of 12 decades; Addison has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Addison | Autumn |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3147 |
| 1920s | — | #4003 |
| 1930s | — | #2835 |
| 1940s | — | #3415 |
| 1950s | — | #1979 |
| 1960s | — | #1104 |
| 1970s | — | #397 |
| 1980s | #5238 | #197 |
| 1990s | #913 | #124 |
| 2000s | #133 | #82 |
| 2010s | #25 | #72 |
| 2020s | #60 | #77 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Addison
- Canada#100
Autumn
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Addison
Son of Adam
Addy (or Adde) was a medieval English pet form of Adam, and -son marked descent. Adam itself comes from Hebrew adam, tied to adamah, "earth, ground."
Adam → Addy → Addison (surname) → Addison (given name)
How it traveled
The name is a patronymic surname from medieval England, formed the same way as Jackson, Harrison and Dawson — a father's pet name plus -son. It served as a family name for centuries, including for the essayist and the physician whose names still appear in English letters and medicine.
Autumn
The season of autumn, the fall of the year
The name is simply the English season word, so its sense is plain. The deeper root of the Latin autumnus is a different matter — Latin scholars have never settled it, and a borrowing from Etruscan is one of the readings put forward.
Autumnus (Latin) → Autompne (Old French) → Autumpne (Middle English) → Autumn
How it traveled
The Latin autumnus passed into Old French as autompne and reached Middle English in the fourteenth century, spelled with the -mn ending it still carries. For a long stretch, English speakers called the season harvest; autumn gradually took over as the neutral word, with fall developing later and becoming the everyday American term.
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
Addison
AD-ih-sun
Stress on the first syllable. The middle vowel is a light, quick one, and most American speakers say it the same way on first sight.
- Addie — The standard short form, and a given name in its own right in the United States since the nineteenth century.
- Addy — Same sound, informal spelling; common in family and school use.
- Addi — A shorter written variant, mostly informal and written rather than spoken differently.
- Sonny — Rare, drawn from the second half of the name; family-only in practice.
Autumn
AW-tum
Two syllables. The final n is silent, exactly as in column and hymn, so the name ends on the m.
- Auttie — Informal family short form; almost never used on paper.
- Aut — Clipped one-syllable form used among friends and siblings, pronounced like "ought."
Who has carried each name
Addison
Addison Rae (b. 2000) — TikTok star turned pop singer and actress
Autumn
No documented entry for Autumn yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Addison if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAddison is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itAddison runs 3 syllables, Autumn 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Addie, Addy and Addi
- a name that charts abroad tooAddison is on the national lists of Canada
Choose Autumn if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesAutumn is 2 syllables to Addison's 3
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 83% for Addison
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
Addison
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight for English speakers — no pronunciation lesson needed at a new school or a new job.
- Comes with Addie, a short form with its own long record as an independent American given name.
- Follows a pattern people already know from Harrison, Madison and Jackson, so it never needs explaining as a name.
To consider
- Addyson, Addisyn and Adison all circulate, so an Addison will spend some of her life spelling it out and correcting forms.
- The name's rise and gentle decline are recent and steep, which tends to tie it to a particular stretch of years the way Debbie or Tiffany are tied to theirs.
- A hormonal disorder carries the surname of a nineteenth-century physician named Addison. Most people never make the connection, but medical settings occasionally do.
Autumn
Strengths
- Everyone who reads English already knows the spelling — it is a word in the dictionary, so it rarely needs repeating or clarifying.
- Pronunciation is fixed for English speakers: one reading, no regional variants, no correcting.
- A long, continuous record in American use rather than a recent arrival, and still turning up in kindergartens.
To consider
- The silent n invites the misspelling "Autum," and young children learning to write their own name have a small hurdle in that -mn ending.
- It is tied to one season, so expect the occasional question about a birthday in September or October — a mild, lifelong bit of small talk.
- Outside English, the word means nothing, so speakers of other languages will hear it as a sound rather than a season.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Addison
83%chance Addison feels dated by 2040
Addison is coming down from a big peak (#11 in 2007). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Autumn
40%chance Autumn feels dated by 2040
Autumn sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Addison and Autumn in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Addison and Autumn?
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 than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- all guides
Every list here names both Addison and Autumn — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Addison or Autumn — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Addison or Autumn?
- Addison, in 2025: Addison ranked #84 with 2,971 babies; Autumn ranked #88 with 2,805 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Addison or Autumn?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Addison moved down 37 places; Autumn moved down 6 places.
- Which is the older name, Addison or Autumn?
- Addison entered the US charts in 1980; Autumn entered the US charts in 1910. On the American record, Autumn is the older name.
- How many people are named Addison and Autumn?
- About 148,000 people named Addison are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 144,000 people named Autumn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Addisons or Autumns in the classroom?
- Addison will almost certainly be the only one in school. Autumn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Addison, Autumn and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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