Head to head · Boys' names
Avery vs Lennox
#291 vs #289 in 2025
Lennox is a whisker ahead (#289 vs #291 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lennox is holding its place on the charts, Avery 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
The tape is even: Avery and Lennox each lead 3 measures of 6.
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 #548, Lennox — — Avery higher
- 1890s: Avery #470, Lennox — — Avery higher
- 1900s: Avery #565, Lennox — — Avery higher
- 1910s: Avery #557, Lennox #4174 — Avery higher
- 1920s: Avery #598, Lennox — — Avery higher
- 1930s: Avery #688, Lennox #3645 — Avery higher
- 1940s: Avery #743, Lennox #3206 — Avery higher
- 1950s: Avery #673, Lennox #3434 — Avery higher
- 1960s: Avery #580, Lennox #3305 — Avery higher
- 1970s: Avery #584, Lennox #4137 — Avery higher
- 1980s: Avery #529, Lennox #4746 — Avery higher
- 1990s: Avery #323, Lennox #4892 — Avery higher
- 2000s: Avery #226, Lennox #2417 — Avery higher
- 2010s: Avery #193, Lennox #583 — Avery higher
- 2020s: Avery #239, Lennox #269 — Avery higher
Avery stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Avery | Lennox |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #548 | — |
| 1890s | #470 | — |
| 1900s | #565 | — |
| 1910s | #557 | #4174 |
| 1920s | #598 | — |
| 1930s | #688 | #3645 |
| 1940s | #743 | #3206 |
| 1950s | #673 | #3434 |
| 1960s | #580 | #3305 |
| 1970s | #584 | #4137 |
| 1980s | #529 | #4746 |
| 1990s | #323 | #4892 |
| 2000s | #226 | #2417 |
| 2010s | #193 | #583 |
| 2020s | #239 | #269 |
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
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.
Lennox
From the Lennox district in Scotland — 'place of elms'
The root is Gaelic leamhan, 'elm'; the district name Leamhnachd was anglicized through forms like Levenax before settling as Lennox. The River Leven, running out of Loch Lomond through that same country, carries the same root.
leamhan (Gaelic, 'elm') → Leamhnachd → Levenax → Lennox
How it traveled
The Lennox is a real place: the old territory around Loch Lomond and the Leven valley, in what is now Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire. From the twelfth century it gave its name to an earldom, and later to a dukedom held in the Stewart line, so the word traveled with noble families and then with ordinary emigrant ones.
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.
Lennox
LEN-uks
Stress on the first syllable. Two syllables everywhere in English; the ending sounds exactly like the x in box. Rarely mispronounced, though it is sometimes misspelled as Lenox.
- Lenny — The most common informal short form; also stands alone as a given name in its own right, usually from Leonard.
- Len — Clipped and old-fashioned in tone; long established as an independent name as well.
- Nox — A recent short form taken from the ending rather than the start; used informally.
- Lex — Informal, borrowed from the x sound; also used for Alexander and Alexandra.
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 past its most crowded yearsAvery is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itAvery runs 3 syllables, Lennox 2
- a long American recordAvery was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Lennox if you want…
- a name on the way upup 3 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesLennox is 2 syllables to Avery's 3
- a newer arrivalLennox entered the US charts in 1918
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.
Lennox
Strengths
- The spelling is the standard one for the Scottish district and surname, so most people write it correctly on the first try.
- Familiar to English speakers as a surname long before it was a first name, which means it reads as a real name rather than an invention.
- Works for a boy or a girl without changing form or spelling.
To consider
- Most children given this name are boys, though a real minority are girls. For a girl it will read as the less expected choice, which some families welcome and others find tiring to explain.
- Its rise as a first name is very recent, so the name skews strongly young right now. It sounds contemporary in a way that its medieval Scottish roots do not immediately suggest.
- The -ox ending puts it in company with Knox, Maddox and Jax, a cluster of currently fashionable sounds. If you want a name that doesn't signal its decade, that's worth weighing.
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 Avery and Lennox 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 Lennox?
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
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- Names ending in -y
- The steadiest names in America
- Names with an X in them
- all guides
Where Avery and Lennox each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Avery or Lennox — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Avery or Lennox?
- Lennox, in 2025: Lennox ranked #289 with 1,160 babies; Avery ranked #291 with 1,156 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Avery or Lennox?
- Lennox. Over the last five years Avery moved down 80 places; Lennox moved up 3 places.
- Which is the older name, Avery or Lennox?
- Avery was already in use when US records began in 1880; Lennox entered the US charts in 1918. On the American record, Avery is the older name.
- How many people are named Avery and Lennox?
- About 62,000 people named Avery are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 14,000 people named Lennox are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Averys or Lennoxs in the classroom?
- Avery will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lennox 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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