Head to head · Girls' names
Maisie vs Wren
#233 vs #231 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Wren is a whisker ahead (#231 vs #233 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. 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, Wren leads 5 measures of 6; Maisie leads 1.
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: Maisie —, Wren #1276 — Wren higher
- 1890s: Maisie #1267, Wren — — Maisie higher
- 1900s: Maisie #1536, Wren — — Maisie higher
- 1910s: Maisie #1784, Wren #3618 — Maisie higher
- 1920s: Maisie #1611, Wren — — Maisie higher
- 1930s: Maisie #2821, Wren — — Maisie higher
- 1940s: Maisie #4065, Wren #5244 — Maisie higher
- 1950s: Maisie #5313, Wren #4366 — Wren higher
- 1960s: Maisie #6390, Wren #5337 — Wren higher
- 1970s: Maisie #5310, Wren #5582 — Maisie higher
- 1980s: Maisie #5122, Wren #6437 — Maisie higher
- 1990s: Maisie #2364, Wren #6154 — Maisie higher
- 2000s: Maisie #1800, Wren #3057 — Maisie higher
- 2010s: Maisie #911, Wren #753 — Wren higher
- 2020s: Maisie #324, Wren #239 — Wren higher
Maisie stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Wren has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Maisie | Wren |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1276 |
| 1890s | #1267 | — |
| 1900s | #1536 | — |
| 1910s | #1784 | #3618 |
| 1920s | #1611 | — |
| 1930s | #2821 | — |
| 1940s | #4065 | #5244 |
| 1950s | #5313 | #4366 |
| 1960s | #6390 | #5337 |
| 1970s | #5310 | #5582 |
| 1980s | #5122 | #6437 |
| 1990s | #2364 | #6154 |
| 2000s | #1800 | #3057 |
| 2010s | #911 | #753 |
| 2020s | #324 | #239 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Maisie
- Scotland#11
- England & Wales#44
Wren
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Maisie
pearl
Maisie inherits its meaning from Margaret, which comes from Greek margarites, 'pearl'. The nickname itself was never a word — it grew out of Mairead, the Gaelic form of Margaret, worn down in ordinary speech.
Margarites → Margaret → Mairead → Maisie
How it traveled
Margaret traveled far and wide in medieval Europe and picked up dozens of household forms; in Scotland and the Gaelic-speaking west it became Mairead, and from Mairead came Maisie and its older Scots cousin Mysie. For centuries it lived as a spoken pet name rather than a christening name, the sort of thing written in letters and not in registers.
Wren
the wren, a small songbird
From Old English wrenna. Where the Germanic bird-word itself came from is not traceable any further back — the name means the bird, and the bird's own name is where the trail ends.
wrenna (Old English) → wrenne (Middle English) → Wren (surname) → Wren (given name)
How it traveled
The word is native English, wrenna in Old English, and it stayed close to home: the bird is a British and European resident, small, brown, loud out of all proportion to its size. From the word came a surname, the usual medieval route — a nickname that stuck to a family and then to a village register, and eventually to the seventeenth-century architect of St Paul's.
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
Maisie
MAY-zee
The s sounds like a z. Occasionally read as MAY-see by people who have only seen it written; one correction usually settles it.
- Maise — Clipped spoken form; almost never written down.
- Mais — One-syllable version used within families rather than formally.
- Margaret — Not a nickname but the formal name behind it — some parents register Margaret and use Maisie every day, which gives a longer option later.
Wren
REN
One syllable, rhyming with hen. The w is silent in modern English — it was pronounced in Old English, and the spelling is all that survives of it.
- Wrennie — Affectionate lengthening used within families; almost never on paperwork.
- Ren — Informal, and the way the name is often written by people who have only heard it.
Who has carried each name
Maisie
Maisie Williams (b. 1997) — Game of Thrones' Arya Stark
Wren
No documented entry for Wren yet.
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 Maisie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 177 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMaisie runs 2 syllables, Wren 1
- a name that charts abroad tooMaisie is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
Choose Wren if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesWren is 1 syllable to Maisie's 2
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
Maisie
Strengths
- Short, spelled the way it sounds once the z-sound is known, and easy for a small child to say and write.
- Sits on top of Margaret, so it can honor a Margaret in the family while sounding nothing like her.
- In continuous use in Britain, so it is familiar rather than invented — a known name on both sides of the Atlantic.
To consider
- Maisy, Maizie and Mazie all exist, and one of them belongs to a very well-known picture-book mouse. Expect to spell it out fairly often.
- It is a diminutive by origin and stays informal in tone; there is no built-in longer version unless you register Margaret and use Maisie in daily life.
- The American wave is very recent, so most Maisies here are young children — there are few adult namesakes to point to yet, though Britain has had them for generations.
Wren
Strengths
- One syllable and four letters — short enough to fit any surname, and no argument about where the stress falls.
- Given to both girls and boys as the same word, with no separate male and female forms to reconcile.
- Spelled the way the bird is spelled, so most people who see it written already know it.
To consider
- The silent w is the whole problem. Anyone who hears the name before seeing it will write Ren, and the correction will be a lifelong small routine.
- Most children given this spelling are girls, so a boy named Wren will regularly be assumed female on a class list or a form — worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by.
- It is climbing quickly. A child born now will likely be the only one in their school, but the name is on more shortlists than it was a decade ago, and that may not hold forever.
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 Maisie and Wren 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 Maisie and Wren?
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 these names appear on
- Scottish heritage names with highland spirit
- Cute and cozy names that stay small
- Names ending in -ie
- Short and sweet: names of four letters or fewer
- all guides
Where Maisie and Wren each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Maisie or Wren — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Maisie or Wren?
- Wren, in 2025: Wren ranked #231 with 1,331 babies; Maisie ranked #233 with 1,328 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Maisie or Wren?
- Maisie. Over the last five years Maisie moved up 177 places; Wren moved up 129 places.
- Which is the older name, Maisie or Wren?
- Maisie entered the US charts in 1890; Wren entered the US charts in 1888. On the American record, Wren is the older name.
- How many people are named Maisie and Wren?
- About 12,000 people named Maisie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,500 people named Wren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Maisies or Wrens in the classroom?
- Maisie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Wren 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 Maisie, Wren 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