Head to head · Boys' names
Lincoln vs Logan
#69 vs #53 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Logan is a whisker ahead (#53 vs #69 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, Logan leads 4 measures of 6; Lincoln 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: Lincoln #623, Logan #368 — Logan higher
- 1890s: Lincoln #559, Logan #518 — Logan higher
- 1900s: Lincoln #583, Logan #688 — Lincoln higher
- 1910s: Lincoln #517, Logan #710 — Lincoln higher
- 1920s: Lincoln #543, Logan #809 — Lincoln higher
- 1930s: Lincoln #651, Logan #931 — Lincoln higher
- 1940s: Lincoln #703, Logan #937 — Lincoln higher
- 1950s: Lincoln #809, Logan #1019 — Lincoln higher
- 1960s: Lincoln #700, Logan #1024 — Lincoln higher
- 1970s: Lincoln #734, Logan #828 — Lincoln higher
- 1980s: Lincoln #851, Logan #221 — Logan higher
- 1990s: Lincoln #828, Logan #65 — Logan higher
- 2000s: Lincoln #446, Logan #25 — Logan higher
- 2010s: Lincoln #93, Logan #15 — Logan higher
- 2020s: Lincoln #58, Logan #35 — Logan higher
Lincoln stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Logan has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lincoln | Logan |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #623 | #368 |
| 1890s | #559 | #518 |
| 1900s | #583 | #688 |
| 1910s | #517 | #710 |
| 1920s | #543 | #809 |
| 1930s | #651 | #931 |
| 1940s | #703 | #937 |
| 1950s | #809 | #1019 |
| 1960s | #700 | #1024 |
| 1970s | #734 | #828 |
| 1980s | #851 | #221 |
| 1990s | #828 | #65 |
| 2000s | #446 | #25 |
| 2010s | #93 | #15 |
| 2020s | #58 | #35 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lincoln
- Canada#67
Logan
- Canada#20
- Scotland#35
- England & Wales#76
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lincoln
Roman colony by the pool
The first element is Brittonic lindo, 'pool' — the Brayford Pool on the Witham; the second is Latin colonia, a settlement of Roman veterans. Together, Lindum Colonia, worn down over centuries to Lincoln.
Lindum Colonia → Lincoln (English city) → Lincoln (English surname) → Lincoln (given name)
How it traveled
The Romans founded a colonia at a Celtic settlement named for its pool, and the compound name survived the fall of the empire, Anglo-Saxon and Norse rule, and a thousand years of English speech to become the city and county of Lincoln. English families who lived there or came from there carried the place name as a surname, and it reached America with them in the colonial period.
Logan
little hollow
From Scottish Gaelic lagan, a diminutive of lag, 'hollow' or 'low-lying place' — the source of the place name Logan in Ayrshire, from which the surname comes. An unrelated Irish surname, Ó Leocháin, was also anglicized as Logan.
lag / lagan (Scottish Gaelic, 'hollow') → Logan (place, Ayrshire) → Logan (Scottish surname) → Logan (given name)
How it traveled
The oldest Logan is a piece of ground: a hollow in Ayrshire in southwest Scotland, whose name gave the local family theirs. Scottish and Ulster-Scots families carried the surname across the Atlantic, where it stuck to the map as well as to people — Mount Logan in the Yukon, Boston's Logan airport, the town of Logan, Utah.
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
Lincoln
LINK-un
The second l is silent — LINK-un, not LIN-coln. Stress falls on the first syllable. Speakers of languages that pronounce every letter often say LIN-koln at first.
- Linc — The standard short form in American use, informal, rarely given on its own.
- Link — A phonetic short form, informal; also a name in its own right and familiar from video games.
- Lin — Less common, informal within families; stands alone as a name in several other traditions.
Logan
LOH-gan
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives phone calls, roll calls and coffee cups without correction.
- Lo — The most common clipping, used among family and friends; works equally for a boy or a girl.
- Logie — Follows the Scottish -ie diminutive pattern; affectionate and household-level rather than public.
- Logs — A teammate-and-classmate nickname, informal and usually short-lived.
Who has carried each name
Lincoln
No documented entry for Lincoln yet.
Logan
Logan Lerman (b. 1992) — Percy Jackson star
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 Lincoln if you want…
- a name fewer children share#69 in 2025 — lincoln will almost certainly be the only one in school
Choose Logan if you want…
- a name most people already know#53 in 2025, 5,576 babies that year
- a name that charts abroad tooLogan is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland 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
Lincoln
Strengths
- A spelling almost every English speaker already knows from maps, history books and coins, so it is written correctly on the first try.
- Two established short forms in genuine use, Linc and Link, without anyone needing to invent one.
- In continuous use as an American given name for well over a century, so it has a record rather than a moment.
To consider
- The presidential association is permanent and loud: pennies, the Memorial, the Gettysburg Address, a car brand, a toy log set. Your child will hear all of it.
- Almost everyone who carries it is a child, so it reads as distinctly young — there are very few adult Lincolns to grow into.
- Non-English speakers regularly say LIN-koln, since the silent second l is not obvious from the spelling.
Logan
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and known everywhere in the English-speaking world — little risk of lifelong correcting.
- Charts in Canada, Scotland and England & Wales as well as the US, so it travels without translation.
- Short and complete on its own; it needs no nickname, though Lo and Logie are there if wanted.
To consider
- It reads male to most people on paper. A girl named Logan will meet forms and rosters that assume otherwise — manageable, but worth knowing in advance.
- The name rose sharply and is now easing back, so it clusters heavily around people in their teens and twenties. It may sound of a particular moment rather than timeless for a while.
- Very little to shorten. If you like a long name with a private nickname inside it, Logan gives you almost nothing to work with.
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 Lincoln and Logan 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 Lincoln and Logan?
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 Lincoln and Logan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lincoln or Logan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lincoln or Logan?
- Logan, in 2025: Logan ranked #53 with 5,576 babies; Lincoln ranked #69 with 4,703 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lincoln or Logan?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Lincoln moved down 29 places; Logan moved down 37 places.
- Which is the older name, Lincoln or Logan?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Lincoln and Logan?
- About 100,000 people named Lincoln are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 380,000 people named Logan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lincolns or Logans in the classroom?
- Lincoln will almost certainly be the only one in school. Logan 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 Lincoln, Logan and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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