Head to head · Girls' names
April vs Heaven
#542 vs #543 in 2025
April is a whisker ahead (#542 vs #543 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: April is holding its place on the charts, Heaven is stepping back from its peak.
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, April leads 5 measures of 6; Heaven leads 0.
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: April #3768, Heaven — — April higher
- 1920s: April #2821, Heaven — — April higher
- 1930s: April #2118, Heaven — — April higher
- 1940s: April #469, Heaven — — April higher
- 1950s: April #274, Heaven — — April higher
- 1960s: April #143, Heaven — — April higher
- 1970s: April #38, Heaven #3701 — April higher
- 1980s: April #45, Heaven #2589 — April higher
- 1990s: April #140, Heaven #616 — April higher
- 2000s: April #288, Heaven #275 — Heaven higher
- 2010s: April #423, Heaven #342 — Heaven higher
- 2020s: April #521, Heaven #489 — Heaven higher
April stood higher in 9 of 12 decades; Heaven has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | April | Heaven |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #3768 | — |
| 1920s | #2821 | — |
| 1930s | #2118 | — |
| 1940s | #469 | — |
| 1950s | #274 | — |
| 1960s | #143 | — |
| 1970s | #38 | #3701 |
| 1980s | #45 | #2589 |
| 1990s | #140 | #616 |
| 2000s | #288 | #275 |
| 2010s | #423 | #342 |
| 2020s | #521 | #489 |
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
April
the fourth Roman month, of unknown derivation
Roman antiquarians connected Aprilis to aperire, to open, on the reasoning that buds open then. That is a guess made by people who no longer knew, and modern scholarship treats it as folk etymology; an Etruscan borrowing has also been proposed. Nothing is settled.
Aprilis → April
How it traveled
The standard explanation of April Fools' Day is that France moved New Year from the spring to the first of January in fifteen sixty-four, and that people who went on celebrating in April were mocked as fools. It is repeated everywhere and the evidence does not support it.
Heaven
heaven — the sky; in Christian use, the dwelling place of God
From Old English heofon, through Middle English heven. The name is simply the modern English word, used as it stands.
heofon (Old English) → heven (Middle English) → Heaven
How it traveled
English-speaking parents have been naming children from the dictionary for centuries: the Puritans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gave the world Faith, Hope, Prudence and Charity, taking abstract nouns and treating them as names. Heaven is a much later arrival to that tradition, appearing in American records in the second half of the twentieth century and rising alongside other word names of devotion and aspiration such as Destiny and Serenity.
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
April
AY-pril
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The Spanish and French forms stress the second syllable, which makes them sound like different names.
- Ape — The front of the name, said APE; used within families.
- Rilla — Built from the back of the name rather than cut from it.
Heaven
HEV-un
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the ordinary word. English speakers need no instruction; speakers of other languages may need the spelling explained, since the 'ea' here sounds like 'e'.
- Hev — An informal clipping used among friends and family; the name is most often used in full.
- Heavenly — An affectionate lengthening rather than a shortening, used casually; also given as a name in its own right in the US.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose April if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate April from Heaven.
Choose Heaven if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsHeaven 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
April
Strengths
- Everybody knows the word, so nothing has to be taught.
- Two syllables with front stress is easy to say and quick.
- It carries a season without being a flower name or a virtue name.
To consider
- It is a month, so a birthday in any other month invites the question.
- Aprille, Apryl and Avril are all recorded and will be written for it.
- The month's own name has no established meaning, so there is nothing solid to report.
Heaven
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on the first attempt by any English speaker — it is a word everyone already knows.
- One standard spelling, with no competing variants to correct for life.
- Belongs to an established English tradition of word names, alongside Grace, Hope and Faith.
To consider
- It carries an unmistakable religious meaning. That is the point for many families, but it is not something the child can set aside in a job interview or a classroom introduction, and some people will read a whole worldview into it.
- The word also belongs to the language of loss — 'gone to heaven', 'in heaven now'. Most people never make the connection out loud, but it exists.
- Its use clusters in a fairly narrow stretch of recent decades, so the name is closely tied to one generation rather than reading as ageless.
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 April and Heaven 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 April and Heaven?
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
- Classics hiding in plain sight
- Generation X names (born 1965–1980)
- Month names, from January to December
- Spring names, fresh from the thaw
- all guides
Where April and Heaven each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
April or Heaven — the short answers
- Which is more popular, April or Heaven?
- April, in 2025: April ranked #542 with 557 babies; Heaven ranked #543 with 556 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, April or Heaven?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years April moved down 25 places; Heaven moved down 122 places.
- Which is the older name, April or Heaven?
- April entered the US charts in 1917; Heaven entered the US charts in 1971. On the American record, April is the older name.
- How many people are named April and Heaven?
- About 231,000 people named April are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 30,000 people named Heaven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aprils or Heavens in the classroom?
- April will almost certainly be the only one in school. Heaven 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
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