Head to head · Girls' names
Autumn vs Maria
#88 vs #87 in 2025
Maria is a whisker ahead (#87 vs #88 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Maria is back after a long quiet spell, Autumn 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, Maria leads 6 measures of 6; Autumn 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
- 1880s: Autumn —, Maria #137 — Maria higher
- 1890s: Autumn —, Maria #149 — Maria higher
- 1900s: Autumn —, Maria #143 — Maria higher
- 1910s: Autumn #3147, Maria #140 — Maria higher
- 1920s: Autumn #4003, Maria #119 — Maria higher
- 1930s: Autumn #2835, Maria #116 — Maria higher
- 1940s: Autumn #3415, Maria #90 — Maria higher
- 1950s: Autumn #1979, Maria #69 — Maria higher
- 1960s: Autumn #1104, Maria #46 — Maria higher
- 1970s: Autumn #397, Maria #34 — Maria higher
- 1980s: Autumn #197, Maria #48 — Maria higher
- 1990s: Autumn #124, Maria #43 — Maria higher
- 2000s: Autumn #82, Maria #48 — Maria higher
- 2010s: Autumn #72, Maria #106 — Autumn higher
- 2020s: Autumn #77, Maria #91 — Autumn higher
Maria stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Autumn has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Autumn | Maria |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #137 |
| 1890s | — | #149 |
| 1900s | — | #143 |
| 1910s | #3147 | #140 |
| 1920s | #4003 | #119 |
| 1930s | #2835 | #116 |
| 1940s | #3415 | #90 |
| 1950s | #1979 | #69 |
| 1960s | #1104 | #46 |
| 1970s | #397 | #34 |
| 1980s | #197 | #48 |
| 1990s | #124 | #43 |
| 2000s | #82 | #48 |
| 2010s | #72 | #106 |
| 2020s | #77 | #91 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Autumn
Not charting outside the US.
Maria
- France#60
- Canada#72
- England & Wales#91
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Maria
Uncertain; the leading readings are 'beloved' and 'bitter'
Maria descends from Hebrew Miryam, whose origin was already unclear to ancient commentators. Some scholars trace it to Egyptian mry, 'beloved', which fits a name borne in a period of Egyptian influence; an older tradition read it through Hebrew mar, 'bitter'. The familiar 'star of the sea' gloss comes from a medieval Latin reading of the name as stella maris and is not an etymology of the Hebrew.
Miryam → Mariam → Maria → Marie → Mary
How it traveled
The name begins as Miryam in the Hebrew Bible, borne by the sister of Moses. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated those scriptures into Greek, they wrote it Mariam, and Greek and Latin writers settled on Maria — the spelling the Latin New Testament carried into every corner of the Roman world.
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
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."
Maria
muh-REE-uh
Spanish and Italian speakers say mah-REE-ah, with a cleaner first vowel and a trilled or tapped r. An older English pronunciation, muh-RY-uh, survives in some hymn and song traditions and in a few families, so it is worth stating your preference once and letting it settle.
- Mia — Informal short form and, for a long time now, a fully independent given name in its own right.
- Ria — Informal; common in Dutch, German and Indonesian usage, and used on its own as a given name in several countries.
- Mari — Informal in English-speaking families; a standard given name in Welsh, Norwegian and Japanese, where it has separate roots.
- Masha — The standard Russian familiar form of Mariya, used within families and among friends rather than formally.
- Also Maruja, Mimi.
Who has carried each name
Autumn
No documented entry for Autumn yet.
Maria
Maria Montessori (b. 1870) — Physician who created the Montessori method of education
Maria Callas (b. 1923) — The century's most famous opera diva
Maria Goeppert Mayer (b. 1906) — Nobel Prize-winning physicist
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 Autumn if you want…
- a name holding steadyAutumn is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesAutumn is 2 syllables to Maria's 3
- a newer arrivalAutumn entered the US charts in 1910
- a name that feels very nowAutumn is holding its place on the charts
Choose Maria if you want…
- a name on the way upup 22 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMaria runs 3 syllables, Autumn 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Mia, Ria and Mari
- a name that charts abroad tooMaria is on the national lists of France, Canada and England & Wales
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
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.
Maria
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and German — no explaining, no correcting, in most of the languages a family is likely to meet.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England and Wales as well as the United States, so it travels without becoming a foreign name anywhere.
- Two thousand years of unbroken written use, and it still turns up on class lists — long history without feeling like a costume.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate in English, muh-REE-uh and the older muh-RY-uh. Most people will default to the first, but expect to correct the occasional stranger either way.
- The link to the Virgin Mary is direct and unmistakable, which many families want and some would rather avoid. It is not a connotation the name can shed.
- In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking families the name is so widespread, often in compounds like María José, that there may already be a Maria or two among the relatives.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Maria
12%chance Maria feels dated by 2040
Maria has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
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 Autumn and Maria 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 Autumn and Maria?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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
Every list here names both Autumn and Maria — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Autumn or Maria — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Autumn or Maria?
- Maria, in 2025: Maria ranked #87 with 2,887 babies; Autumn ranked #88 with 2,805 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Autumn or Maria?
- Maria. Over the last five years Autumn moved down 6 places; Maria moved up 22 places.
- Which is the older name, Autumn or Maria?
- Autumn entered the US charts in 1910; Maria was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Maria is the older name.
- How many people are named Autumn and Maria?
- About 144,000 people named Autumn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 470,000 people named Maria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Autumns or Marias in the classroom?
- Autumn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maria 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 Autumn, Maria and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap