Head to head · Girls' names
Avery vs Grace
#37 vs #38 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Avery is a whisker ahead (#37 vs #38 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name 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
On the charts, Avery leads 3 measures of 6; Grace leads 2.
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: Avery —, Grace #15 — Grace higher
- 1890s: Avery #1210, Grace #16 — Grace higher
- 1900s: Avery #1740, Grace #18 — Grace higher
- 1910s: Avery #2273, Grace #27 — Grace higher
- 1920s: Avery #2370, Grace #44 — Grace higher
- 1930s: Avery #2830, Grace #82 — Grace higher
- 1940s: Avery #3039, Grace #141 — Grace higher
- 1950s: Avery #3175, Grace #198 — Grace higher
- 1960s: Avery #3203, Grace #266 — Grace higher
- 1970s: Avery #2608, Grace #366 — Grace higher
- 1980s: Avery #1481, Grace #234 — Grace higher
- 1990s: Avery #472, Grace #97 — Grace higher
- 2000s: Avery #86, Grace #16 — Grace higher
- 2010s: Avery #16, Grace #21 — Avery higher
- 2020s: Avery #27, Grace #36 — Avery higher
Grace stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Avery has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Avery | Grace |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #15 |
| 1890s | #1210 | #16 |
| 1900s | #1740 | #18 |
| 1910s | #2273 | #27 |
| 1920s | #2370 | #44 |
| 1930s | #2830 | #82 |
| 1940s | #3039 | #141 |
| 1950s | #3175 | #198 |
| 1960s | #3203 | #266 |
| 1970s | #2608 | #366 |
| 1980s | #1481 | #234 |
| 1990s | #472 | #97 |
| 2000s | #86 | #16 |
| 2010s | #16 | #21 |
| 2020s | #27 | #36 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Avery
- Canada#54
Grace
- Scotland#5
- England & Wales#25
- Canada#42
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Avery
elf ruler, from Germanic alf 'elf' and ric 'power, ruler'
Avery and Aubrey are two English outcomes of the same Germanic name, Alberich, which reached England through Norman French.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey → Avery
How it traveled
The Germanic name Alberich — alf, 'elf', plus ric, 'power' or 'ruler' — arrived in England with Norman French speakers, who had reshaped it into forms like Auberi and Auvrey. Those forms produced both Aubrey and Avery in medieval English use, and Avery then settled into an English family name carried down the generations.
Grace
Grace, favor, thanks
From Latin gratia, which carried all three senses: charm, kindness freely given, and gratitude. In Christian use it came to mean divine favor specifically, which is the sense the Puritan namers had in mind.
Gratia → Grace
How it traveled
The root is Latin gratia, which passed into the Romance languages as Grazia, Gracia and Graça, often attached to titles of the Virgin Mary. English took it up not through those routes but through the Reformation habit of naming children after Christian virtues — Faith, Prudence, Mercy, Grace — and it traveled to North America with those families.
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
Avery
AY-vuh-ree
Often compressed to two syllables, AYV-ree, in ordinary speech. Both are standard and no one will correct you.
- Ave — Informal household short form, usually rhyming with 'save'.
- Avi — Informal, and also a standalone given name of separate Hebrew origin.
- Aves — Casual, more common among friends and siblings than adults.
- Ave-Ave — Doubling used with small children; drops away with age.
- Also Ry.
Grace
GRAYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. The same in British and American English, and rarely misheard or misspelled.
- Gracie — The standard informal short form for well over a century, and long established as a given name in its own right.
- Gracey — Spelling variant of Gracie, used informally.
- Gray — An occasional modern clipping, informal and much less widespread than Gracie.
Who has carried each name
Avery
No documented entry for Avery yet.
Grace
Grace Kelly (b. 1929) — Oscar-winning actress who became Princess of Monaco
Grace Hopper (b. 1906) — Computing pioneer and Navy rear admiral behind COBOL
Grace Jones (b. 1948) — Fearless singer and style icon of the '80s
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 Avery if you want…
- a name with more sound in itAvery runs 3 syllables, Grace 1
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Ave, Avi and Aves
- a newer arrivalAvery entered the US charts in 1890
- a name that feels very nowAvery is stepping back from its peak
Choose Grace if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesGrace is 1 syllable to Avery's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooGrace is on the national lists of Scotland, England & Wales and Canada
- a long American recordGrace was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 83% for Avery
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
Avery
Strengths
- One spelling that almost everyone can write on first hearing, with no silent letters to explain.
- A documented line back to medieval England and, before that, to Germanic Alberich — the same root that gave Aubrey.
- Works for a son or a daughter without changing form, and is well established in both directions in American use.
To consider
- Because most Averys are girls, a boy named Avery will meet assumptions on paper — forms, class lists, first emails. Nothing that a spoken introduction doesn't fix, but it happens repeatedly.
- Ava and Avery sit close together in sound and in current use, so expect the occasional mix-up between the two, and think about it before pairing them with a sibling name that starts the same way.
- Averie, Averi and Avry all exist as spellings, so you may sometimes be asked which one you meant.
Grace
Strengths
- One settled spelling that English speakers read correctly on sight, and one syllable to say — no correcting, no repeating.
- An unbroken record in English use since the Puritan era, so it has never had to be revived.
- Ready-made informal form in Gracie, which also works as a standalone name if she prefers it.
To consider
- It is an ordinary English word as well as a name — grace period, saying grace, graceful. Most bearers never notice; a few get tired of the wordplay.
- Its origin is specifically Christian, and the virtue-name tradition it belongs to is still audible to many people. Worth deciding whether that reading suits your family.
- Because it is so heavily used in the middle slot, some first-name-and-Grace combinations can sound like a default rather than a decision.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Avery
83%chance Avery feels dated by 2040
Avery is coming down from a big peak (#12 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Grace
12%chance Grace feels dated by 2040
Grace has held the top-100 across 10 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 Avery and Grace 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 Avery and Grace?
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
Every list here names both Avery and Grace — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Avery or Grace — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Avery or Grace?
- Avery, in 2025: Avery ranked #37 with 5,267 babies; Grace ranked #38 with 5,127 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Avery or Grace?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Avery moved down 18 places; Grace moved down 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Avery or Grace?
- Avery entered the US charts in 1890; Grace was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Grace is the older name.
- How many people are named Avery and Grace?
- About 168,000 people named Avery are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 316,000 people named Grace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Averys or Graces in the classroom?
- Avery will almost certainly be the only one in school. Grace 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 Avery, Grace and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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