Head to head · Girls' names
Angie vs Robin
#705 vs #704 in 2025
Robin is a whisker ahead (#704 vs #705 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Robin is back after a long quiet spell, Angie is holding its place on the charts.
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, Robin leads 5 measures of 6; Angie 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
- 1880s: Angie #310, Robin — — Angie higher
- 1890s: Angie #380, Robin — — Angie higher
- 1900s: Angie #435, Robin #1934 — Angie higher
- 1910s: Angie #446, Robin #2602 — Angie higher
- 1920s: Angie #479, Robin #1582 — Angie higher
- 1930s: Angie #449, Robin #856 — Angie higher
- 1940s: Angie #507, Robin #329 — Robin higher
- 1950s: Angie #493, Robin #64 — Robin higher
- 1960s: Angie #241, Robin #35 — Robin higher
- 1970s: Angie #205, Robin #69 — Robin higher
- 1980s: Angie #432, Robin #132 — Robin higher
- 1990s: Angie #632, Robin #353 — Robin higher
- 2000s: Angie #380, Robin #1007 — Angie higher
- 2010s: Angie #571, Robin #1175 — Angie higher
- 2020s: Angie #690, Robin #828 — Angie higher
Angie stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Angie has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Angie | Robin |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #310 | — |
| 1890s | #380 | — |
| 1900s | #435 | #1934 |
| 1910s | #446 | #2602 |
| 1920s | #479 | #1582 |
| 1930s | #449 | #856 |
| 1940s | #507 | #329 |
| 1950s | #493 | #64 |
| 1960s | #241 | #35 |
| 1970s | #205 | #69 |
| 1980s | #432 | #132 |
| 1990s | #632 | #353 |
| 2000s | #380 | #1007 |
| 2010s | #571 | #1175 |
| 2020s | #690 | #828 |
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
Angie
messenger; angel
Angie belongs to the family of Angela, from Greek angelos, 'messenger', which passed into church Latin as angelus and came to mean 'angel'.
angelos (Greek) → angelus (Latin) → Angela → Angelina / Angelica → Angie
How it traveled
The root is the Greek angelos, a messenger — the ordinary word for someone carrying news, which the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible used for divine messengers. Latin took it as angelus, and the feminine Angela spread through Catholic Europe, joined by Angelina and Angelica.
Robin
bright fame — through Robert
Robin is the medieval French and English pet form of Robert, from the Germanic Hrodebert: hrod, 'fame', plus beraht, 'bright'. The garden bird carries the same name because English speakers handed it one.
Hrodebert → Robert → Robin
How it traveled
The Germanic name Hrodebert traveled into France with the Normans as Robert, and French speakers built the affectionate Robin from it with the little -in ending they used for pet forms. It crossed to England after the Conquest and became one of the commonest men's names of the later Middle Ages — common enough that the Robin Hood ballads, circulating by the fourteenth century, could use it as a plain man's 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
Angie
AN-jee
Soft g, as in angel. Occasionally misread with a hard g, as in angle, by someone seeing it written before hearing it.
- Ang — Informal clipping, common among family and close friends; rarely written down.
- Ange — Used chiefly in British and Australian speech, for both Angie and Angela.
- Angie — Itself the standard short form of Angela, Angelina and Angelica, and long established as a full given name too.
Robin
ROB-in
Stress on the first syllable. Said the same for a girl or a boy, and the same in French apart from a lighter final n.
- Rob — Informal; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, more often for men.
- Robbie — Informal, used for either sex, and independently given as a full name too.
- Bin — Family-level and rare; almost never used outside the household.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Angie if you want…
- a name holding steadyAngie is holding its place on the charts
- a long American recordAngie was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Robin if you want…
- a name on the way upup 196 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalRobin entered the US charts in 1904
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
Angie
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers, and already familiar in writing — little need to repeat it letter by letter.
- Works either as a full name or as the short form of Angela, Angelina or Angelica, so a longer formal version is available if you want one.
- On the American record continuously since national name records began, without ever dropping out of use.
To consider
- Because it began as a nickname, some people will assume there is a longer name behind it and ask what Angie is short for. That is easy to answer, but it will come up.
- It is far better represented among adults than among children right now — a child named Angie will likely be the only one in her school while meeting grown women who share it.
- The Rolling Stones ballad follows the name around, so expect it to be sung at her occasionally by people old enough to remember the record.
Robin
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on first sight by nearly every English speaker, with no accents or silent letters.
- An unbroken record of use since the Middle Ages, so it reads as familiar rather than invented.
- Works as-is in French, German, Swedish and Czech — one of the few English nicknames that needs no translation.
To consider
- The girl–boy split is close to even, so the name alone tells a teacher or a form-filler nothing. Some families like that; others find the constant small corrections tiring.
- Robyn is a well-established alternative spelling, which means a lifetime of being asked "with an i or a y?"
- It is still strongly represented among older generations, so most adults will have known a Robin decades their senior — pleasant for some ears, dated to others.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Angie and Robin 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 Angie and Robin?
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 these names appear on
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Names that belong entirely to the 1960s
- Names ending in -in
- all guides
Where Angie and Robin each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Angie or Robin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Angie or Robin?
- Robin, in 2025: Robin ranked #704 with 400 babies; Angie ranked #705 with 399 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Angie or Robin?
- Robin. Over the last five years Angie moved down 52 places; Robin moved up 196 places.
- Which is the older name, Angie or Robin?
- Angie was already in use when US records began in 1880; Robin entered the US charts in 1904. On the American record, Angie is the older name.
- How many people are named Angie and Robin?
- About 55,500 people named Angie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 260,000 people named Robin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Angies or Robins in the classroom?
- Angie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Robin 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Angie, Robin and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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